“A common symptom of quackery is big promises that don’t stand up to closer examination. A bit like this statement on the College of Medicine’s website: “There is a new force in medicine. A force that brings patients, doctors, nurses and other health professionals together, instead of separating them into tribes. A force that combines scientific knowledge, clinical expertise and the patient’s own perspective. A force that will re-define what good medicine means...” Charming isn’t it? Just the sort of College we would all want to be part of...Supporters claim the CoM will help GPs to stand up against the kind of BigPharma driven ‘Eminence Based Medicine’ that sees GPs paid to put 85 year olds on statins and penalises us for keeping their blood pressure up so they don’t fall over…Backed into a corner and feeling de-professionalised, some GPs may feel there is no alternative…In asking my colleagues to stop their ears to the siren call of ‘integrated and holistic’ quackery, I am asking them to up their game and ask difficult questions of every service they commission and – crucially – every service they provide themselves…Stopping your ears and shouting la-la-la-la is just not an option.” Terri Eynon MD, Freelance GP blog (25th February 2012)