Question
I listened to the excellent speech from Tessa Munt in the House of Commons debate on ME/CFS. It’s perfectly clear that all the well-meaning words in the DHSC Delivery Plan are of very little use if there isn’t going to be any new money for either the specialist referral services or for research. Why is this?
Answer
I think it’s a political decision when it comes to failing to provide the necessary funding to make sure that the ME/CFS referral services have the staffing skills set recommended in the NICE guideline on ME/CFS and that they are also able to provide the full range of diagnostic and management services recommended by NICE.
When it comes to research, the main funding bodies – MRC and NIHR – have quite a lot of independence from government. Despite all the pressure that has been exerted on them to make some ring-fenced funding available to stimulate research into ME/CFS, I don't think they are convinced that they need to make ME/CFS a special case.
So I’m afraid it's banging head against a brick wall territory at the moment – which is why this sort of political pressure is important.
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