Merryn Fergusson, whose book ‘What is Wrong with ME?' gives a candid, mother's-eye view of teenage M.E., will be the keynote speaker at a Scottish Parliament reception to mark ME Awareness Week next Wednesday (May 15).
The event – for parliamentarians and invited guests – has been organised by the Scottish ME/CFS Collaborative that involves patient support charities, local ME groups, expert health professionals, patients and carers. The event will focus on current projects and explore how patients, carers and advocates can work collaboratively with service providers, policy and decision-makers to develop effective support for the 20,000 people living in Scotland with ME/CF.
Other speakers will be the host, Mrs Mary McFee MSP, Sonya Choudhury (chief executive, Action for ME), Michael McMahon MSP (on the work of the Welfare Reform Committee), specialist ME/CFS nurse Keith Anderson and Joan Kerr, from the Edinburgh ME Self-Help Group.
Ewan Dale, who will be representing The ME Association at the event, commented: “The need to promote understanding and develop treatment for ME/CFS remains urgent.
“We know how progress can be achieved, but we need medics and researchers to get on board and help us achieve these goals, and MSPs to encourage adoption of the best approaches for accumulating progress in cost-effective health service resourcing.”
Do we know if there are any representatives of any proper empirical research attending?
I have to confess to being highly suspicious of *anything* involving AfME, given their overwhelming support for the “psychiatric school” and the new and highly suspect phenomenon of “evidence-based medicine” (which is why we are now having to tolerate funding homeopathy, which is a placebo effect, but not neccessarily harmless, on the NHS) now being substituted for (more expensive and time consuming, but far more reliable and accurate) empirical research.