The Countess of Mar tabled a question asking the Government how many NHS chronic fatigue syndrome service centres are fully functional; what percentage of patients referred with ME/CFS are subsequently found to have fatigue associated with other chronic conditions; and what measures are in place to ensure that patients with chronic fatigue are effectively screened for other relatively rare diseases before they are given a diagnosis of ME/CFS.
In a written answer supplied on 10 February 2011, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health Earl Howe replied:
Information on the number of fully functioning National Health Service *chronic fatigue* services centres is not collected centrally.
The department does not collect the requested information on those people attending *chronic fatigue syndrome* centres.
The guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence states that a positive diagnosis of *chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis* should be made after other known causes for the symptoms have been excluded.
The NICE guidlines do not exclude idopathic chronic fatigue and fatigue of a psychological origin, therefore they do not filter out other causes for some of the symptoms.
As I have said before, this ‘trend’ of deferring central responsibility to PCT’s and now, presumably, GP ‘Consortia’, really bugs the heck out of me.
If there were to be an outbreak, say, of Swine Flu the national figures would be centrally collated and action taken.
O wait! What am I saying. Bad example… my ‘bad’.
If there was an outbreak of, say, CJD the national figures would be centrally collated and appropriate action taken.
O no! Done it again! Ooooppppsss….
If one wanted to know how many sufferers were ‘at risk’ of swine flu or even flu, in order to plan and order appropriately, one could depend on a central database for the information.
No! Done it again!
Arghhh….
Figures. Yes! If I wanted to know how many people are diagnosed currently in my county of Cornwall, the answer would be easily found on the NHS or even PCT website, maybe the D of H published data.
Cool. Wait…. nope. No data.
Oh yes, of course, estimates. That’s it! It’s 2011 I’m sorry, I thought for a minute we were living in the ‘dark ages’.
This would never, never, never, happen in a private industry, with responsibilities as vital as those of the NHS and DofH.
Nice!