HealthWatch
Encyclopedia
HealthWatch is a long-established UK charity which promotes evidence-based medicine. Its formal aims are:
Its President is Nick Ross
and its patrons are Baroness Susan Greenfield
, Professor Tom Kirkwood, Lord Dick Taverne and Lord Walton of Detchant.
HealthWatch has a small but authoritative international membership, mostly of doctors, journalists, lawyers and medical scientists including a clutch of Nobel prize
-winners. It promotes evidence-based medicine
and is regarded by journalists as a reliable and unbiased source of information on medical science. It publishes a newsletter and occasional "position papers" on controversial medical treatments.
It was inspired by the oncologist Prof Sir Michael Baum, among others, and began as the Campaign Against Health Fraud mostly targeting unfounded claims by proponents of alternative medicine
and downright quackery
, but soon broadened to audit all forms of medical practice, and many of its members are more concerned about unproven orthodox therapies than complementary ones. Nonetheless it still sometimes attracts criticism from some believers in alternative medicine who claim that scientific approaches cannot be applied to their way of working. They have accused it of being in the pay of drug companies, but HealthWatch maintains it has no commercial sponsors of any form and relies on membership fees and donations from other charities.
- The assessment and testing of treatments, whether “orthodox” or “alternative”;
- Consumer protectionConsumer protectionConsumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
of all forms of health care, both by thorough testing of all products and procedures, and better regulation of all practitioners; - Better understanding by the public and the media that valid clinical trials are the best way of ensuring protection.
Its President is Nick Ross
Nick Ross
Nick Ross is a British radio and television presenter across a wide range of factual programmes and during the 1980s and 90s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters, but he is best known for his long-running co-hosting of the BBC TV show Crimewatch which he left on 2 July 2007...
and its patrons are Baroness Susan Greenfield
Susan Greenfield
Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, CBE is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Greenfield, whose specialty is the physiology of the brain, has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.Greenfield is...
, Professor Tom Kirkwood, Lord Dick Taverne and Lord Walton of Detchant.
HealthWatch has a small but authoritative international membership, mostly of doctors, journalists, lawyers and medical scientists including a clutch of Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winners. It promotes evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine or evidence-based practice aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to clinical decision making. It seeks to assess the strength of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments and diagnostic tests...
and is regarded by journalists as a reliable and unbiased source of information on medical science. It publishes a newsletter and occasional "position papers" on controversial medical treatments.
It was inspired by the oncologist Prof Sir Michael Baum, among others, and began as the Campaign Against Health Fraud mostly targeting unfounded claims by proponents of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
and downright quackery
Quackery
Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices. Random House Dictionary describes a "quack" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or...
, but soon broadened to audit all forms of medical practice, and many of its members are more concerned about unproven orthodox therapies than complementary ones. Nonetheless it still sometimes attracts criticism from some believers in alternative medicine who claim that scientific approaches cannot be applied to their way of working. They have accused it of being in the pay of drug companies, but HealthWatch maintains it has no commercial sponsors of any form and relies on membership fees and donations from other charities.