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Science and the European Elections: Holford Watch on the Greens' health policies

By sciencepunk on June 1, 2009.

Holford Watch, the esteemed health blog praised by the Guardian, Telegraph, Private Eye and House of Commons amongst others, have released a long and detailed examination of the Green Party's health policies, from concerns over mercury fillings to dependence on the NHS:

A number of aspects of the manifesto are strikingly flawed, to the point of being offensive. Many people rely on the NHS - and for a serious party to come up with a health policy this bad is frankly insulting.

The manifesto insists (HE103) that

Health services can create dependence on the part of users, which is itself unhealthy.

Absolutely, people can become dependent on services in unhealthy ways. However, while self-management of many conditions is desirable, it can be perfectly healthy and sensible for people to depend on health services for some aspects of their care. For example, Type 1 diabetics depend on access to a supply of insulin while many people depend on a supply of anti-retroviral medication.

It would be nice if more people could manage without any health services. However, for many of people, in the absence of miracle cures the alternative to reliance on particular interventions is understandably unappealing.

It's a well informed and thorough examination, so be sure to read the full article.

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Science and the European Elections
european elections

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They're not the "Green Party", they're the "Green Party of England and Wales". There is also a "Scottish Green Party", which is a completely separate organisation, and hopefully somewhat less nutty.

It would be nice if you could make this distinction in your other posts on the topic.

You're right, Dunc - I'm guilty of being a filthy anglo-centric, I didn't even contact any of the other Scottish parties. I'll be sure to include more parties in the next round of political blogging.

It's not really your fault - the GPEW have a rather annoying habit of referring to themselves simply as "The Green Party", as if they were the only one. It's rather like the various England-and-Wales-only charities (such as the RSPCA), who advertise in Scotland without bothering to mention that they don't do any work there and that there are specific Scottish equivalents.