Today (10.12.24), the Times has published Dr Charles Shepherd's (Honorary Medical Adviser to the ME Association) letter within the Letters to the Editor section (paywalled). Read Dr Shepherd's letter below.
Lack of NHS action over ME treatment
Sir, The tragic death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill highlighted serious failures in the way the NHS cares for people with very severe ME (report, Dec 6). Although the coroner’s prevention of future deaths report has resulted in NHS England arranging a “stocktaking” of existing specialist services for people with ME/CFS, the answers are already there.
The number of specialist referral services that are fully complying with recommendations in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline for ME/CFS in relation to the professional skill set and services being provided is minimal. The number of services providing any sort of meaningful domiciliary/home-based care for people with severe and very severe ME/CFS is almost non-existent.
And there are still no hospital-based in- patient units where people with complex care needs can be referred for specialist assessment and management. That nothing is being done to address the coroner’s main concern requires urgent NHS action at both local and national level.
Dr Charles Shepherd,
Trustee and Hon. Medical Adviser to the ME Association,
Member of the 2018-2021 NICE guideline on ME/CFS committee,
Member of the 2002 Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on ME/CFS
More Information
- The Times: NHS to review ME services after death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill | December 6, 2024
- The Times: Coroner demands urgent action to prevent further deaths from ME | October 8, 2024
- Courts & Tribunals Judiciary: Maeve Boothby O’Neill: Prevention of Future Deaths Report | 8th Oct 2024
- Maeve Boothby O’Neill Inquest – Regulation 28 Report to be issued | Sept 27, 2024