NICE GUIDELINES ON ME

That this House welcomes NICE's consultation with patients and their representatives on whether to review its clinical guidelines on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME (CG53); notes that myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a serious, debilitating, chronic health condition affecting about 250,000 people in the UK, and is concerned that about half of the patients asked in a number of surveys reported adverse effects on their health from Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) which is recommended by NICE; notes recent biomedical research indicating an abnormal physiological response to exercise in ME patients, and that the US Centre for Disease Control no longer recommends GET for ME; notes also the unanimous call from consultation stakeholders, and a petition of 15,180 patients, for NICE to update its guidelines on ME; and urges NICE to review CG53 and to consider patient experience and recent international scientific evidence in its assessment of the merits of GET for treating ME.