James Dornan, SMP for Glasgow Cathcart (Scottish National Party), tabled a question asking whether the Scottish Government will provide an update on the implementation of the Canadian guidelines on the clinical, symptomatic definition of ME/CFS – as recommended in the Scottish Public Health Network report, Health Care Needs Assessment of Services for people living with ME-CFS.
In his written answer on 3 December 2012, Minister for Public Health Michael Matheson replied:
Since the needs assessment was published, a synthesis of the best available evidence, including evidence drawn from people’s experience, to assist with the differential diagnosis and clinical management in primary care of adults with ME-CFS has been presented in the Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS, our key document on the management of ME-CFS in primary care.
The Good Practice Statement sets out Scottish Government’s position on diagnostic criteria for ME-CFS. The statement recognises that a number of definitions have been proposed for ME-CFS, including the Oxford (1991), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC – Fukuda 1994) the Canadian Consensus Document (2003) and NICE Guideline (2007) and as yet, no one set has been universally agreed.
I have a big hunch that Michael Matheson does not know much about ME, he just cuts and pastes whatever’s given to him.
The very first document produced stated clearly that the Canadian Guidelines should be used to diagnose ME, and the NICE guidelines should be used to diagnose CFS.
Then AfME got their sticky mitts of it and it got watered down to comply with what’s happening in England.
Now the International Concensus Criteria are available, these should supercede the Canadian Guidelines, but there’s something really fishy going on.
We HAD a wonderful chance to progress, with the first document produced, when it first should have been published in 2009.
Since then, it seems, the powers that be have put a complete kybosh on it.
SNAFU.