Page 6 - Winter 14

British Homeopathic Conference 2014 – Homeopathy, sustainable healthcare Report by Malene Jørgensen, UK
There’s always a first – and this was mine! As a veterinary surgeon and homeopath I have, up until now, prioritised the BAHVS Conference but this year I decided to make a change. And as both the line-up of speakers and the main subject were of interest to me, off to Glasgow I went.
The congress was held at the Grand Central Hotel in the heart of Glasgow with easy access to the city’s buzz but also quite an expensive option for accommodation – hence me staying in a neighbouring hotel for the weekend.
The exhibitors were placed centrally in the Grand Foyer by the entrance to the Grand Room for easy access and interaction with the delegates. Old as well as new exhibitors displayed their products and as always there was a lot to be learned here – between delegates in the breaks and from the exhibitors. New books, remedies, tinctures, computer programs and much more – an endless temptation to explore new products and revisit the well-known.
Homeopathy has many historic links to Scotland and particularly Glasgow, where the Homeopathic Hospital (now the NHS Centre for Integrative Care – see below) began as a dispensary in 1880. The theme for the congress was interesting in a time, where conventional drugs either don’t work as intended, have too many side-effects or are lacking in new modes of action causing
multiple and serious problems for patients all over the world. In particular, the lack of effective antibiotics and the fast development of multi- resistant strains of bacteria are prominent issues in the current debate. The talks were focusing on the clinical benefits of homeopathy to physical, mental and social well-being, the economic advantages of integrating homeopathy to everyday practice and how best to ensure the longevity of homeopathy for future generations. There were a number of sessions dedicated to interactive participation from the delegates and parallel session, where a choice could be made between several different subjects to suit everyone. The lack of veterinary content and in particular, practical relevant material, were striking but maybe not surprising, given the subject. However, we did get a lot of information about the current and future situation for homeopathy in modern healthcare.
The program was divided into sessions with a choice of speakers and subjects. It would be too elaborate to mention every session and speaker (and I didn’t personally attend all the sessions of course). The subjects spoken on were:
A Sustainability of Homeopathy and the homeopathic practitioner in modern healthcare
B Case studies and case analysis
C Integration with the NHS, audit and
evaluation
D Resistance, Polypharmacy vs homeopathy
E A clinical snapshot around the world F Hands-on workshop
G Research
H Clinical application
I Stage three of the Periodic Table
J ‘Flowers and Physicians’ – choir session
with the theme ‘Natural healing
represented in Words and Music’
K The Healthcare Apocalypse
L ‘Down with medicine – then you’ll feel
better’
The evening entertainment Friday night was a trip to House for an Art Lover, (constructed in 1989 and based on a 1901 design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh), where dinner, songs and music followed a tour around the house. Saturday night the great Gala Dinner took place at the Grand Central Hotel’s Grand Room. A champagne reception complete with bag pipe player, which lead afterwards to a dinner with friends and colleagues followed by ceilidh and live music. It was great fun to participate in the dancing but equally as fascinating to observe, how successfully the musicians managed to explaine the routines to a more or less attentive crowd.
Sunday morning was reserved to a visit to the NHS Centre for Integrative Care (formerly known as ‘Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital’). The hospital is now a part of the NHS treatment opportunities for residents in Scotland, although lately quite a few counties have sadly stopped the referral option to the hospital. The
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