All Party Parliamentary Group on ME: people with ME/CFS continue to be badly treated

The ME Association, Thursday, 03 December 2009 10:43

"The interim report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on ME inquiry into NHS services for people with ME/CFS was launched at the group's meeting in the Commons yesterday (Wednesday 2 December 2009).

In a press statement issued after the meeting, APPG chairman Dr Des Turner MP said the evidence submitted to the group made it clear that the Department of Health (DoH) and the National Health Service (NHS) needs to significantly increase its efforts to ensure that people with ME/CFS get adequate treatment.

Dr Turner said: “Currently, services offered to patients with ME/CFS are patchy and we have heard of numerous cases where treatment has simply not been available to any adequate standard. This is confounded by delays in diagnosis and failings on the part of general practitioners to recognise the disease or diagnose it."

“We found unacceptable variation in provision between different health trusts which needs to be addressed.”

The parliamentarians said that people with ME/CFS continue to be badly treated by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and find great difficulty in accessing disability benefits.

The interim report and recommendations can be read by clicking here.

The ME Association hopes to be publishing its own response to the interim report later today. When it is available, it will be published at this website."