**Trigger Warning: Upsetting Content**
There are no current plans to address a nationwide deficiency in specialist hospital units and beds for patients with severe [ME]/chronic fatigue syndrome, a senior doctor has told an inquest.
By Eve Watson
Miss Boothby-O'Neill suffered from severe [ME]/chronic fatigue syndrome for a decade before she died at home in October 2021.
Devon coroner Deborah Archer concluded earlier this year Miss Boothby-O’Neill had died from natural causes “because of severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)”.
Resuming the inquest on Friday, the coroner heard evidence from Dr Hemsley, who is the medical director for the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
He said the trust had not been commissioned to provide a specialist ME service for patients with a severe form of the illness either before or after Miss Boothby-O’Neill’s death.
Preventing future deaths
Ms Archer confirmed she would send a prevention of future deaths report to the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and other bodies after the inquest. These reports are sent when a coroner thinks action is needed to protect lives.
After the hearing, her father Sean O'Neill said the report to prevent future deaths could “hopefully point towards reform” and tackle what he described as a “blindspot in this terrible illness that medicine and science struggle to recognise”.
Further Media Coverage
- The Guardian: Not a single bed set aside to treat ME in any UK hospital, says NHS director | 27th Sept 2024
- The Times: Coroner to call for specialist ME services after Boothby O’Neill death (paywalled) | 27th Sept 2024
- The Telegraph: Doctors must stop believing ME is a mental illness, bereaved father says | 27th Sept 2024
Further information
- The ME Association: Maeve Boothby O’Neill Inquest – Regulation 28 Report to be issued | 27th Sept 2024
- Courts & Tribunals Judiciary: Maeve Boothby O’Neill: Prevention of Future Deaths Report | 8th Oct 2024