Short report Homeopathy service in a National Health Service community menopause clinic: audit of clinical outcomes
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
substances. These doses (usually in tablet form) are
Sheffield’s National Health Service community menopause
individually prescribed according to the principle of ‘like
clinic has run a homeopathy service since 1998. The service
provides an alternative treatment option for those women
In 2004 an audit was undertaken of the homeopathy
who cannot take hormone replacement therapy, do not want
service. The audit cycle includes the following steps:
it, have found it ineffective, or have been advised to stop it.
observing current practice, setting standards of care, com-
Patients receive homeopathic treatment (monthly consulta-
paring practice with standards, and implementing change.
tions plus individualized homeopathic medicines) for up to six sessions. An audit was undertaken of all patients referred to this service between 2001 and 2003, in which patients completed the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile.
Patients reported significant benefit from the service. The greatest response was seen in those reporting headaches,
Since the inception of the homeopathy service, all patients
vasomotor symptoms, emotional/psychological symptoms and
referred have been asked to complete the Measure
tiredness/fatigue as their primary symptoms.
Yourself Medical Outcome Profile (MYMOP).2 Using
these routinely collected data, a clinical audit was
Keywords: Homeopathy, hot flushes, menopause, primary
undertaken of all patients referred from 1 January 2001 to
31 December 2003 (n = 124). The MYMOP is a patient-
generated outcome measure. Each patient is asked to
name the two symptoms that bother her the most and
score them on a seven-point Likert scale (from 0, ‘as good
Introduction
as it could be’, to 6, ‘as bad as it could be’). Patients are
also asked to score their ‘general wellbeing’ on a scale of
Sheffield’s National Health Service community
0–6. Scores are documented before, during and at the end
menopause clinic has provided a homeopathy service
since 1998. The service is provided for women with
distressing menopausal symptoms who are not taking
hormone replacement therapy (HRT) because they
cannot take it, do not want it or have found it ineffective,
or because it produced intolerable side-effects and the
One hundred and twenty-four women were referred to the
Patients are offered up to six consultations with one of
homeopathy service; their median age was 53 years. Initial
the two homeopaths. The initial consultation lasts 50–60
and final MYMOP data were obtained for 102 women
minutes and subsequent consultations 15–30 minutes.
(81.4%) (5 women had none and 17 women had initial
Patients receive monthly consultations and individual-
but no final data). Regularly listed symptoms were hot
ized homeopathic medicines. Individualized homeopathy
flushes, tiredness, anxiety, mood swings, crying, sleeping
uses low-dose/ultra-molecular doses of specially prepared
difficulties, mood swings, headaches, and joint and muscle
Fifteen women reported that their primary symptom
stayed the same and four documented a worse score;
Correspondence: Clare Relton, Research Fellow and
however, the remaining 83 reported an improvement at
Homeopath, Medical Care Research Unit, ScHARR,
the end of homeopathic treatment. The mean decrease
Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield S1 4DA, UK. Email: [email protected]
(improvement) in the score for their primary symptom was
Journal of the British Menopause Society Vol. 11 No. 2 June 2005
C Relton & E Weatherley-Jones Homeopathy service
2.0 (95% confidence interval 1.64–2.43, PAcknowledgements: This audit was supported by the
improvement of 0.8 on the MYMOP scale has been sug-
Department of Health National Coordinating Centre for
gested to indicate clinically significant improvement).3
Research Capacity Development (NCCRCD).
Further analysis showed an average MYMOP score
change of 1.5 for wellbeing and 2.0 for vasomotor symp-
Competing interests: None declared. References Discussion
1 Thompson EA. Homeopathy and the menopause.
The results of this audit are comparable to those of a
previous outcome study and service evaluation of this
2 Paterson C, Britten N. In pursuit of patient-centred outcomes:
homeopathy service in 1999–2000, which found that
a qualitative evaluation of MYMOP, Measure Yourself Medical
88% of patients (n = 37) reported clinically significant
3 Guyatt GH, Juniper EF, Walter S, Griffith L, Goldstein RS.
improvement in their primary symptom, with a mean
Interpreting treatment effects in randomised trials. Br Med J
improvement of –2.0 in the scores for primary symptoms.4
1998;316:690–3
Greatest clinical benefit was reported by women for
4 Thomas KJ, Luff D, Strong P. Complementary Medicine Service
headaches, tiredness, vasomotor symptoms, locomotor
in a Community Clinic for Patients with Symptoms Associated with the Menopause: Outcome Study and Service Evaluation.
Other observational studies of homeopathic treatment
5 Clover A, Ratsey D. Homeopathic treatment of hot flushes: a
of menopausal symptoms have used different outcome
pilot study. Homeopathy 2002;91:75–9
measures, but do report high levels of benefit in meno-
6 Thompson EA, Reilly D. The homeopathic approach to the
treatment of symptoms of oestrogen withdrawal in breast
pausal symptoms as well as improved mood and quality of
cancer patients. A prospective observational study. Homeopathy
2003;92:131–4 New from RSM Press An Essential Medical Miscellany
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Journal of the British Menopause Society Vol. 11 No. 2 June 2005
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