Question

I live in a part of the country where we have a university medical school but no ME/CFS referral service. So I wasn’t surprised to learn from a medical student at our GP surgery that she knew virtually nothing about ME/CFS as it wasn’t something they had received any education on and she has never seen a patient with ME/CFS before now! What can we do to improve medical student education on ME/CFS?

Answer

At a national level there is an organisation called the Medical Schools Council and we have met with them in the past – so they are aware of the need to take some action.

At a local level, I suggest that people with ME/CFS, or local groups, write to the Dean of Medical Education at their local medical school to enquire what they are doing to make sure medical students are given up-to-date and appropriate information on diagnosis and management of ME/CFS and that the students see patients with ME/CFS as well.

Any letter to a Dean of Education should include a reference (as shown below) to a key action point in the DHSC Delivery Plan that relates to undergraduate medical education:

You may not be aware that the DHSC published a Delivery Plan for ME/CFS in July 2025: https://meassociation.org.uk/q8y4

The Delivery Plan contains a section on medical education along with specific action points relating to the need to improve the way in which medical students receive information and training through direct patient experience on ME/CFS.

In particular: … the Medical Schools Council (MSC) encourages shared learning and the NHS England e-learning package on ME/CFS to all UK medical schools and encourages medical schools to provide undergraduates with direct patient experience.

More Information:

• The ME Association helps to signpost and provide information to healthcare professionals through our magazine, ME Medical, and through the work of our Healthcare for ME team. Find out more here.