Doctors call for crackdown on drink and homeopathy

As well as supporting a minimum price for a unit of alcohol, medics called for a complete ban on drink advertising as well as scrapping supermarket loyalty points for alcohol.

They also voted for a "properly enforced ban on drunkenness on public transport" at the British Medical Association conference in Brighton.

But calls for a UK-wide ban on drinking on public transport failed.

The BMA already has a strong stance on alcohol, and supports a complete ban on advertising as well as minimum pricing.

The vote on loyalty points and cracking down on drunken behaviour on trains and buses adds another dimension to BMA policy.

They also said that homeopathic remedies should be banned on the NHS and taken off pharmacy shelves where they are sold as medicines.

Medics voted three to one in favour of banning NHS funding for homeopathic remedies and removing support for the UK's four homeopathic hospitals.

Dr Tom Dolphin said homeopathy was "nonsense on stilts" in inferred that calling it witchcraft was an insult to witches, while another said patients would be better off buying bottled water.

Dr Mary McCarthy, a Shropshire GP, said homeopathic doctors claimed it made people feel better but added: "Lots of things make you feel better – a sunny day, the smell of the sea, a hug, retail therapy".