United Kingdom News (including UK wide, England, NI and Wales - see separate thread for news from Scotland)

The Times understands the ME initiative has been put on the back burner because the health secretary, Wes Streeting, is determined that nothing should distract from the promotion of his ten-year plan for the NHS.
«I want to spend time promoting my incomplete plan instead of trying to make it more complete.»
In a further blow to the hopes of ME patients, Streeting has also ruled out any new money for the delivery plan and rejected appeals for a ring-fenced fund to advance ME research. The plea for a specific funding resource was made in a letter signed by all 72 Liberal Democrat MPs. But the health secretary has written back saying ring fencing ME funding “goes against our commitment to open competition to ensure transparency and scientific excellence”.
His statement appears to contradict previous government awards such as the £50 million five-year commitment made in 2021 to finance research into Motor Neurone Disease while last year the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) called for proposals to address “evidence gaps in liver disease research”.

The NIHR is also running an “open call” for a five-year research consortium to prevent cardiovascular disease. ME campaigners had lobbied for a similar scheme to build a research network and are surprised by Streeting’s response.
It’s nice to see someone pointing out the blatant discrimination.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with all those whose lives have been touched by myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. We are committed to improving the care and support for all those affected and will publish a final delivery plan shortly.”
Your thoughts are not sufficient, and they are clearly not with us when you only want to focus on your other plan!
 
The MEA ais quite rightly being challenged about what they’re going to do about this and I don’t think they mean just in terms of the delay but in terms of the absence of anything to deliver anything for this misrepresented, harmed and neglected community.

I don’t think that type of challenge is gonna be well received but I think there should be a major questioning of why the MEa & AFME has never organised campaigns on services or research, even during this process, which is atypical for national charities. The patients saw the absence of ambition and sought to apply external pressure, which is basically what charities do to turn up the heat, to make it less possible for a government to carry on ignoring you and our charities ,refused to publicise or support. ? There’s a possibility that they felt during a negotiation that they couldn’t take on a campaigning role. I don’t know if that’s right. However , if they carry on thinking that they can just resume whatever actions they were doing before this, they’re wrong and if the government thinks this problem can be just swept under the carpet when it’s an injustice, they’re wrong. Enough is enough

Long Covid has shown what the government can do for this type of illness both in terms of swift set up of services and immediate dedicated funding and there’s no reason whatsoever it cant do the same for m.e

I hope that a patient campaigners launch a really strong campaign because this government has got a weak spot now, it’s known for being cruel to the vulnerable- regarding the fuel tax , regarding PIP and also there’s recognition that there’s been these great scandals/ injustices and as far as I’m concerned m.e is one of them. So we should be retaliating hard with the support of Lib Democrats & the greens
. I think we need to make noise until they reverse this decision and part of the reason they thought they could get away with this decision was because as well as stigma, we’ve been very very quiet.

Obviously there’s been scepticism / concern for a long time amongst informed patients because the draft was lame but I think the community is gonna be stunned that the government thinks it can take three years of our desperate lives on a review and consultation that was supposed to take a few months and are still coming back with no funds
 
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It's possible some people from the MEA, AfME and other groups have been applying pressure.

However, until we see what is in the plan, we won't know whether it's been worth the wait, that there is no promise of extra money for ME/CFS services.

Given that the MEA won't even tell us what the people they have employed to advise on ME/CFS services are advising, and what their toolkit already rolled out to some ME/CFS clinics contains, I don't think the MEA are the best people to ask to fight this. I'd rather they got their own house in order.
 
Meanwhile , this is happening for Parkinson’s, which already has some treatments and large public & private investment, it affects half our numbers and an older demographic.. The MRC apparently are the main funders of the DRI.. https://www.ukdri.ac.uk/news-and-ev...n-forces-establish-pioneering-research-centre

“Marking a pivotal moment in brain health research, the UK DRI has united with Parkinson's UK to establish a new £10m research centre dedicated to better understanding the causes of Parkinson’s and finding new treatments to prevent, halt, and ultimately find cures for the condition..

The UK DRI and Parkinson’s UK will each invest £5 million over five years to drive forward vital research. The centre will identify new approaches to Parkinson’s prediction and prevention, alongside the development and testing of new treatments to prevent the onset, and slow or even reverse the progression of the condition.”

Prof Patrick Chinnery, Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council, said:

“As the UK DRI’s leading funder, we welcome its partnership with Parkinson’s UK and the creation of the new Parkinson's Research Centre. To develop effective treatments for degenerative brain diseases we need to better understand how the brain processes malfunction. What we learn from one neurodegenerative disease could help us find treatments for another, so bringing all this additional expertise together with the world-class research at UK DRI should help us to accelerate towards finding treatments for Parkinson's"


 
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Having witnessed the terrible suffering in the final years of someone with Parkinson's disease, I am glad they are getting research funding - it should be more. They have treatments, but they only slow the disease, they are not cures.
I’m not begrudging Parkinson’s at all, and completely sympathise with your person who suffered. Late stage Parkinson's isn't something I know much about it but if it's associated with dementia then that's terrible. But I’m saying that m.e is being treated as less worthy and in my opinion is not. And m.e is destroying some lives at a younger age and I think that's a key point, it's terrible whatever age you suffer but it's at least if you've had a life by the time you're 50 , you can look back on your wonderful teens and time at university and travels around the world and the family you reared, and you career and so many people with m.e aren't getting that opportunity..
 
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