Cat Smith, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities and Junior Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, asked the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs have notified cases of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in each of the last five years.
In a written reply supplied on on 9 March 2016, Jane Ellison, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, wrote:
This information is not collected in England.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidance, Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children, published in 2007, estimates that the annual prevalence is approximately 4,000 cases per million of the population.
Well that was a complete waste of time
FAILURE TO ENACT THE TOP RECOMMENDATION OF THE GIBSON INQUIRY
Jill Pigott, from the Worcestershire ME Support Group, has pointed out that the No 1 recommendation from All Party Parliamentary Group on ME Inquiry into NHS Service Provision for ME/CFS (the so-called Gibson Inquiry) in March 2010 was as follows:
“Recommendation 1
“There were a significant number of submissions from PCTs stating that they do not have accurate patient numbers. PCTs who do offer adequate services could only supply numbers of how many people are using their particular service. There will also be an unknown number of other sufferers within the community.
“The Department of Health should undertake research to accurately determine the numbers of patients with ME/CFS.”
Inquiry report: http://www.meassociation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/APPG-Report-v3.pdf