A major change in work related benefits for sick and disabled people takes place on Monday 27 October with the introduction of the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The new benefit is likely to make it harder for sick and disabled people to claim work related benefits, and the aim is to significantly reduce the numbers of people claiming work related benefits.

     Eric Smart back on the road in Italy

They make 'em tough in Scotland! Our Aberdeen-Australia cyclist, Eric Smart, has recovered from a broken collarbone after taking a tumble from his bike in Italy. 

New guidance from the UK Department of Health provides a comprehensive list of conditions where treatment with immunoglobulin may or may not be  appropriate.

From The Guardian, October 22

After becoming ill, Melissa Viney had to give up her job and go on to incapacity support. Then she tried working again. But it's not easy, she found, to escape the benefits trap.

Department for Work and Pensions Green Paper: No one written off: Reforming welfare to reward responsibility

Around 2.7 million people currently claim Incapacity Benefit (ICB).  The benefit is paid to people who are judged to be incapable of work, initially by a GP and then at a later date by a Benefits Agency doctor.

By 6.30pm this evening, a total of 400,862 people had visited this website – reading 2,085,587 pages between them. We started counting on 7 May 2007. The site has consistently been top of the Google ratings for information about M.E. since its re-launch in January last year.

A big package of new or revised leaflets, a brilliant first novel by someone with ME and a Christmas stocking filler take pride of place on The ME Association's latest MEA Order Form (click here for a downloadable pdf).

From The Northern Echo, Monday October 13

Two new weekly clinics have been launched to help people who suffer from ME.

After six months trekking in the desert and hacking through jungle, explorer Ed Stafford has now reached the quarter-way mark in his 4,000-mile quest to become the first man to walk without a break from the source to the mouth of the mighty River Amazon.

Just before the start of the 'ME Question Time' meeting in Colchester on Saturday we were given the news that Dr Betty Dowsett had been taken to hospital.

These are brief notes on key points to emerge from the meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on ME that was held from 3pm to 5pm in Committee Room 18 at the House of Commons on Wednesday 8 October 2008. Please note that these are not the APPG minutes.  The APPG minutes contain a far more comprehensive account of what took place and are being prepared by the Secretariat.  They will be made available later.