ME Research UK is a member of Forward-ME, an alliance of several UK charities and organisations which aims to provide a unified voice for the ME community. Below is the press statement from Forward-ME in response to the new NICE guideline on ME/CFS, which summarises some of the changes from the previous version.
- Download the new guideline here
- Read NICE’s official press release here
- Read ME Research UK’s response here
NICE publishes new guideline on ME/CFS, driving major improvements in care
Doctors, and people with ME welcome the new NICE guideline on ME/CFS, which brings major improvements to the diagnosis, management and support for people with ME.
The new guideline on ME/CFS sets out a significant change in approach:
- Recommending ‘Energy Management’ techniques to avoid ‘Post-Exertional Malaise’ and exacerbation of symptoms. This approach recommends people with ME plan their physical and cognitive activities to stay within their energy limits, incorporating rest where necessary. This is also known as ‘Pacing’.
- Maintains the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) only to help people cope with the distress which can accompany a long term condition, but recognises that CBT cannot cure ME.
- Child safeguarding is significantly improved. Some parents of children with ME have been subjected to inappropriate child protection orders, and threatened with the removal of their children, in the belief that the parents had caused a ‘fabricated or induced illness’.
The recommendations on ‘Energy Management’ will also help people with LongCovid who experience Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM), many of whom have reported that ‘Graded Exercise Therapy’ worsened their condition, and their symptoms were dismissed as anxiety.
This recommendation is a clear break from the past. Previously, people with ME were offered ‘Graded Exercise Therapy’ (GET), based on a hypothesis that they were deconditioned. NICE found the evidence for this to be poor quality, and many people with ME reported that GET caused serious harm.
The new guideline on ME/CFS was due to be published in August, but NICE ‘paused’ the release following intervention from some clinicians. After a round-table with representatives from the ‘Royal Colleges’ and ME charities, NICE is now confident that the guideline can be fully implemented.
COMMENT
We hope and believe the Guideline will provide much needed stimulus for substantial, publicly funded biomedical research into the causes, consequences and treatment of this disease.
Jonathan Davies, ME Research UK
The new NICE guideline is welcomed because it acknowledges the truth of people’s experiences, and creates a foundation for hope that future children and adults with ME will not repeat the anguish of the past.
Sonya Chowdhury, CEO, Action for ME
This is a very special day for people with ME – publication of a new evidence-based NICE guideline which confirms that this is a serious and very debilitating medical disease. I welcome the emphasis on early and accurate diagnosis and the need to provide early guidance on symptom management when people are not recovering from a viral infection and a diagnosis of ME is suspected.”
Dr Charles Shepherd, Medical Advisor, ME Association
