Of Homeopathic feet and guns

[RANT]
Since qualifying in Homeopathy in 1993 I have been keeping an eye on the professional bodies that charge a princely sum each year to 'register' and insure homeopaths, to see how much use they actually are to the homeopaths they register and 'represent'.

I put parentheses round 'register' because it confers no legal status and does little more (in my opinion) than confirm the signing up to a code of ethics. All well and good you might say, but it has that official ring to it, and certainly those organisations would wish it to be official, but whatever weight it carries, extends no further than the boundaries of those already in the know, as far as I can see.

Yes they also produce a leaflet or two and a magasine for members, but I do question whether that amounts to value for ( a lot of) money. I guess it must to those of us that sign up, or is it just that there is a perception that it's a necessary evil on the ladder to self worth and justification of practicing a therapy so vilified in the media?

I also put parentheses round 'represent' because this is what I presumed these organisations with exclusive and expensive membership did for their registered members, but their interpretation of 'represent' and mine appear to differ. How so? read on:

The (UK) homeopathic profession has recently finished an extremely expensive exercise in determining whether the umbrella organisations can play nicely together. They can't.

There will be no profession-lead single register. There will be no profession-lead über umbrella organisation (CORH etc ) to decide how to set up another über organisation for registration, there will be no inefficient over-priced money machine to filch our hard earned pennies (c'mon, they took six years and blew a fortune just trying to set it up!). [Though it looks like a non profession-lead register is looming under the auspices if the Prince of Wales Trust - but overseen by whom, with what homeopathic qualifications? - good question!]

The bureaucratic knots the profession has got itself into during the last few years over the single register issue have finally tripped it up, they ran out of money for it, apparently - and a good job too, otherwise it might have gone on ad infinitum gobbling up resources that could be put to MUCH better use!

So now perhaps that this (predictably) futile exercise is over they can put the same level of resources into what they should have been putting it into in the first place, i.e. MARKETING HOMEOPATHY TO THE PUBLIC. For the money (and time!) they spent over the last 6 years or so, we ( the homeopathic profession en masse) could have had a whopping advertising campaign, even TV ads!

I have argued for for a long time that marketing should be the prime concern of these organisations (SOH, ARH, HMA,CMA etc - CORH even) but it was deemed more important by the combined council members that they try to learn to play nicely with each other rather than to get the public educated about the potential of homeopathy, and using it.

The SOH's obsession with 'protecting the public' (I assume it's an obsession as it's what they bang on about over and above anything else in my experience) not only detracts from the real issue ( see in CAPS above) but it is their big bass drum that they love to proudly beat as they march like tin soldiers up and down the corridors of CORH.

Yet if my own experience is anything to go by the members of SOH practice no differently to members of HMA or ARH. I know many in each of the camps and as I say, if my experience is anything to go by there are definitely no unequivocal differences IN PRACTICE despite the claims to the contrary!)

Of course what they are trying to imply is that anyone who is not SOH registered is a danger to the public. In other words they put the majority their energy into bashing the other registering bodies (ARH, HMA etc) who have then to spend just as much energy trying to persuade them that it would be better if they all agreed at least on what it is they are all trying to do (over and above 'protecting the public')

As it turns out if we are to judge them (SOH, ARH, HMA) by the CORH farce ( I'm sorry but with the benefit of hindsight you have to agree, it was a farce) then what they are actually all trying to do is simply to jostle for position. i.e. where they are REALLY spending their energies ( and money) is in vying for the registration fees of the members of the homeopathic profession.

Just to make this point really clear: the T.E.A. ( Time energy attention) of these organisations is being taken up by their preoccupation with themselves and their own importance. My arguement is that it should be taken up specifically with PROMOTING HOMEOPATHY TO THE PUBLIC.

The rest of the stuff, promoting themselves, code of ethics, etc should play second fiddle to that. Not the other way round as it currently is. What do these organisations currently do to market homeopathy to the public? They occasionally write to a newspaper, who may or may not print, they answer the phone and perform other administrative tasks. Big deal. ('HAW' is less than a drop in the ocean compared to what it needed) All for a registration fee anywhere from £250 to over twice that. Great value huh?

They (SOH, HMA, ARH etc) need to stop examining their navels and get out there!

Ask any average homeopath and they will be more concerned about aquiring a steady stream of patients and having their profession defended against slurs in the media, than whether they are on a single register or whether the public are being protected from them. (WTF?) Currently however the media is promoting the single register. I wonder why? Could it be that tey have seen what a sore point it is for the homeopathic profession? I wonder.

Some registration organisations ( you know who you are) do not even see it as their remit to promote homeopathy to the public, - WHY NOT???. They argue that it is up to the individual practitioners to promote themselves and the job of the organisation to regulate the practitioners. It is my assertion that this should be their FIRST priority and that they have got it completely back to front.

Without the public using homeopathy there will be no profession to promote or regulate, so the real priority should be self evident! As it is It is most homeopaths I speak to complain that in their practice patient numbers yoyo and are frequently insufficient to provide a decent living. It is very frustrating to watch as the organisations PAID to represent the homeopathic profession squander resources on self-obsessive idealisms and infighting.

So I say ( again) to the registration bodies: GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT! Homeopathy is a BUSINESS (not a medico-political party). It needs to be marketed as such and the organisations representing homeopaths should do more for their fee than register and administer. They should recognise and realise their potential to so so much more for the profession
[/RANT]

Talking of which: http://www.homeopathyworkedforme.org/