IN A long letter (letters October 11) Richard House and others protest about the withdrawal of NHS funding for homeopathy.

They quite correctly point out that it represents only a very small part of the NHS budget but that entirely misses the point.

No doubt the reason little is spent on it is that few doctors are so foolish as to believe it has any part to play in medical practice.

However the real point is that homeopathy had been shown time and time again to be totally ineffective.

Of course true believers refuse to accept this and constantly call for more research, and equally constantly refuse to accept the negative conclusions of that research.

Not only is homeopathy ineffective, where it prevents someone with a serious condition seeking effective help it is positively dangerous.

Homeopathic anti-malarial treatments being one such example.

That is the real reason for defunding homeopathy - the NHS should have no role in promoting such nonsense, any more than it should be referring patients to a witch doctor.

It is ironic that Dr House should refer to the alleged lack of evidence for the decision given the mass of evidence against homeopathy and his own frequently expressed questioning of the very concept of evidence.

If you really want homeopathy and your doctor won’t prescribe it just drink a glass of water.

It’s the same stuff.

But be careful not to overdose!

Jim Watson

Selsley