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  • What is the current NHS service provision for patients severely affected by chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis? A national scoping exercise

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Health services research
Research
What is the current NHS service provision for patients severely affected by chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis? A national scoping exercise
  1. Clare McDermott1,
  2. Atheer Al Haddabi2,
  3. Hiroko Akagi3,
  4. Michelle Selby4,
  5. Diane Cox5,
  6. George Lewith1
  1. 1Department of Primary Care and Population Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK
  2. 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK
  3. 3Leeds and West Yorkshire CFS/ME Service, Seacroft Hospital, Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
  4. 4Dorset CFS/ME Service, Wareham Hospital, Wareham, Dorset, UK
  5. 5University of Cumbria, Lancaster, UK
  1. Correspondence to Clare McDermott; C.McDermott{at}soton.ac.uk

Abstract

Background Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), in its most severe clinical presentation, can result in patients becoming housebound and bedbound so unable to access most available specialist services. This presents particular clinical risks and treatment needs for which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises specialist medical care and monitoring. The extent of National Health Service (NHS) specialist provision in England for severe CFS/ME is currently unknown.

Objectives To establish the current NHS provision for patients with severe CFS/ME in England.

Setting and participants All 49 English NHS specialist CFS/ME adult services in England, in 2013.

Method Cross-sectional survey by email questionnaire.

Primary outcome measures Adherence to NICE guidelines for severe CFS/ME.

Results All 49 services replied (100%). 33% (16/49) of specialist CFS/ME services provided no service for housebound patients. 55% (27/49) services did treat patients with severe CFS/ME and their interventions followed the NICE guidelines. The remaining services (12%, 6/49) offered occasional or minimal support where funding allowed. There was one NHS unit providing specialist inpatient CFS/ME provision in England.

Conclusions Study findings highlight substantial variation in access to specialist care for patients with severe presentation of CFS/ME. Where treatment was provided, this appeared to comply with NICE recommendations for this patient group.

  • Neurology
  • Primary Care

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005083

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