A story in the Daily Express has been doing the rounds on twitter, regarding NHS Tayside’s decision to sack 500 staff, but still advertise a £68,000 per year post for a homeopath.

Whilst I discussed this over dinner with my wife, Natalie, she suggested that I should apply for the position — she then suggested that maybe every skeptic with 30mins spare could also apply for the position. 😀

Given the post pays nearly twice what I earn now, and is only to cover 2 sessions per week, I thought “why the hell not”. Tayside is quite a nice neck of the woods.

The application details are found here, and I have e-mailed my completed form to recruitment.tayside@nhs.net.

As a guide, I thought I’d share my “statement in support of application” with you:

” Whilst I have no formal medical qualification, I believe that I am ideally suited for the job of handing out sugar pills to unsuspecting patients on behalf of NHS Scotland. My PhD level scientific training and 6½ years postdoctoral experience means that I know lots of scientific and biomedical buzz words with which I can bamboozle prospective patients like “medical biomimicry”, “postconditioning hormesis” “quantum entanglement” and “the placebo effect.” My biochemistry degree means that I am familiar with such vagaries as Avogadro’s constant, but given the extremely attractive salary (at least compared to scientific research), I’m sure I could be convinced to overlook the fact that homeopathic remedies with a potency over 12C contain zero molecules of active ingredient whatsoever. The original research that I have published means that I am familiar with the body of published work on homeopathy, and the many meta-analyses and systematic reviews conducted on it. The fact that these conclude that homeopathy is no more effective than a similarly administered placebo will not bother me whilst I am taking advantage of some of the excellent salmon fishing to be found in the Tayside region. Indeed, given the fact the position only calls for the successful applicant to attend two sessions per week, I should imagine I would have plenty of time to indulge in a bit of fishing. In conclusion, whilst I may be an atypical applicant for this post, I will do my level best to help any patients referred to me to get the best healthcare the NHS can offer – by referring them straight back to a doctor who won’t prescribe them worthless sugar pills at the taxpayers expense.”

Fingers crossed, eh?

EDIT – Today myself, David Colqhoun and Dean Burnett have all received requests from NHS Tayside for CVs, Immigration Status Forms, Declaration Statement and equal opportunities forms.