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Seven-week-old Oscar Aldridge, who was successfully diagnosed and treated for breathing problems at Barts, with his mum, Sarah |
Child care website for parents
CHILD patient care was given a welcome booster with the launch of a website dedicated to parents’ health concerns about their children.
The website, commissioned by Barts and The London Children’s Hospital, provides information on the expertise available at the hospital, which cares for more than 40,000 children and young people each year.
To make a donation towards equipment and research, call 020 7618 1720 or go to www.justgiving.com/thechildrensfund.
NHS faces court challenge
Calls to continue funding of homeopathy at the Royal London
PATIENTS stepped up the pressure to save the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (RLHH) from closure last week (Wednesday) when they took to the streets in protest.
The hospital, in Great Ormond Street, which is run by University College London, is facing financial pressure after a number of NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) announced they would no longer fund its homeopathic treatments.
Now, patients who have lost funding for their treatments are planning on taking their challenge to one PCT to the courts.
Anna Thorburn, who was treated for depression at the hospital and who volunteers at Crossroads Women’s Centre in Kentish Town, said protesters would be mounting a legal challenge to Barnet PCT on the grounds that it didn’t consult patients before pulling funding for their treatments.
She said: “Those who attack homeopathy have no interest in patients’ health or they would be supporting the RLHH rather than undermining it. We don’t accept that only the better-off should have access to holistic health care because it has been privatised.
“We are mounting a legal challenge against Brent PCT on the grounds that they did not consult patients before making their decision to stop our treatment at the RLHH.”
The announcement to withdraw funding came after a coalition of leading scientists wrote to NHS managers urging spending to be curbed on the treatments, which they say are not proven to work.
But, exactly one year after the group’s original letter, a smaller group has reprised its drive to ban homeopathy on the NHS, which one signatory, University College London pharmacology professor David Colquhoun, described as “crack-pot” medicine.
The experts, led by Professor Gustav Born, of King’s College London, have written to NHS managers urging them not to fund the complementary therapy.
Hammersmith and Fulham PCT has already withdrawn funding from the RLHH, while Brent and Westminster are intending to follow suit.
Former patient Ms Thorburn, said: “Many of us took the toxic drugs that are routinely offered to patients and they made us worse. We were referred by our GPs to the RLHH, and homeopathy has had a dramatic, positive effect on our health. Patients who use the RLHH include babies and children, older people and people with chronic pain and disability, including those with MS, diabetes complications, cancer, and those who have complications following surgery.”
Homeopathy student Jenny Hautman, of Crowndale Road, Camden Town, who also works at the Crossroads Women’s Centre treating asylum seekers and trauma survivors who can’t afford homeopathic treatments, said: “It’s tragic that most people don’t even know that the RLHH exists. We need to demand to be able to use it and get GPs to refer patients there. It’s a fantastic resource we have here in Camden and we have to support it. It can make a huge difference and patients can respond really well, emotionally and physically.”
Johnny Depp praises hospital
HOLLYWOOD superstar Johnny Depp has revealed his enormous gratitude to Great Ormond Street Hospital for saving his young daughter’s life.
Critically ill Lily-Rose was taken to the children’s hospital in March, suffering from kidney failure caused by E.coli food poisoning.
The crisis came as the star was filming for his latest Pirates of the Caribbean blockbuster, At World’s End.
Mr Depp, 43, said: “Great Ormond Street was terrific – such a great hospital.” |
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