A workshop last month with stakeholders marked the formal start of NICE’s collaborative work to update its 2010 guideline on the diagnosis and management of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
NICE Guideline - ME/CFS : Diagnosis and Management
A New Guideline is in development, with expected publication date: 14 October 2020. This Guideline will fully update (CG53)
Forward-ME members discussed the NICE Guideline when they met on 10 January, a week before the NICE Guideline Stakeholder Engagement workshop. Forward-ME is a collaboration of ME/CFS charities - chaired by the Countess of Mar.
Reports following the workshop:
- Dr Charles Shepherd, the ME Association’s Medical Adviser summarised the key points; and the MEA announced the NICE News item -
- Sue Waddle, Vice Chair of ME Research UK (MERUK) attended the workshop and gave her comments in the MERUK NICE Guideline Report
- Action for M.E.’s report on their involvement at the NICE guideline meeting, and further report -
Information from the Worcestershire NHS CFS/ME Service website:
Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust Extract from ‘Family & Friends Area’ -
Treatments for CFS/ME
Nice guidelines (2007) suggest that the most effective treatments are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help improve the way you feel about the condition, and Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) to gradually build up exercise tolerance and improve fatigue levels. The principles of these therapies underpin the treatment provided by the Worcestershire CFS/ME Service.