The government is about to release their new NHS plan ‘rethinking ME’ but absurdly it’s not actually coming with any funds attached to it, despite the fact there is now irrefutable evidence of its biological existence and the rapidly increasing number of patients, due to the number of Covid long sufferers who meet the diagnostic criteria. Many patients have been let down for decades over the lack of funding, not to mention being treated awfully over the years by the medical community.
The funding for ME/CFS/Long Covid patients is about £40 per patient per annum, one of the lowest of any disease despite the most severe patients having a very quality of life compared to patients with several other illnesses.
Tessa Munt has spoken passionately on X on behalf of ME, CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and Long Covid patients.
I know several people whose lives are currently ruined by ME/CFS/Long Covid. It is crucial that research into these illnesses, which all share a common causal thread, is properly funded.
You can get involved in the campaign for more funds by going to the Action for ME Facebook page. Thank you.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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3 Comments
Spot on, Paul. I have one close friend who suffered from ME for many years – now recovered.
The way he was dealt with by the NHS was utterly awful. The relevant institutions and doctors ought to be ashamed of themselves. He ended up consulting private doctors, though he himself was on the edge financially as he couldn’t work.
The NHS has totally failed M:E patients over decades. Long Covid ought to be an opportunity to improve dismal standards.
It’s not just ME/long covid.
The NHS is basically shit dealing with any chronic complex autoimmune based conditions.
, I had a strep infection 30 years ago. It triggered psoriasis, and then IBD, and after those were treated and relatively under control, arthritis. And in the last few years, I’ve added POTs and dyshidrotic eczema to my plethora of conditions, and fibromyalgia to my diagnoses, though I think that’s just a “ we accept it hurts, but I don’t know why” condition.
I have to fight for any treatment. I have to fight even harder to get the various consultants that I’m under to speak to each other and consider that there may be a common theme underlying all of the things that are wrong with me.
The NHS is great at acute medicine, still. It’s really really bad at both the research and treatment of more complex conditions. We have to put more funding behind things like Emmy to discover how we can fix broken auto immune systems and inflammatory processes
Well said Paul! 👏
After so many decades of neglect, mistreatment and underfunding, it is absolutely vital that the government take this opportunity to right the wrongs by allocating proper funding to these devastating illnesses. Knowing what we know now thanks to long Covid, doing nothing, would be irresponsible and cruel to community that have dealt with a lot of suffering and need hope and proper research yesterday!