Policy Positions

Doctors with M.E. endorses policies, guidelines and education programmes that contribute positively to the field. Endorsement is withheld from those which do not. Where necessary, we also critique developments that particularly undermine research or clinical progress.

We also produce occasional research commentaries, educational resources and research, which can be viewed on those pages.

• Rights and Obligations in ME/CFS: Overcoming normalised disregard for standards13 October 2022
  Doctors with M.E. proposes a simple solution to ensure success of the UK’s ME/CFS Delivery Plan. Following the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid’s announcement of a cross-nation delivery plan for ME/CFS, work has been underway at the Department of Health and Social Care to identify issues and find solutions.…
• Normalised Medical Rule Breaking and the UK DHSC ME/CFS Review23 June 2022
  Replacing Working Group Glass Ceilings with Enforceable Minimal Standards (clickable video chapters below and on YouTube site) Further to our recent statement regarding major UK announcements, the above presentation provides the solution to concerns about new DHSC ME/CFS Delivery Planning mechanisms and final implementation. Current glass ceilings will limit success of this new process and…
• BMJ Rapid Response on Unpaid Carers12 June 2022
  Doctors with M.E Director and colleagues respond regarding the ignored importance of unpaid carers Doctors with M.E. Director, Dr. Nina Muirhead, has co-authored a BMJ Rapid Response regarding the topic of unpaid carers of people with ME. This important factor is largely ignored by the 2021 NICE ME/CFS Guidelines, the recent APPG report and the…
• Statement on UK DHSC Announcements and the APPG Rethinking ME Report11 June 2022
  Doctors with M.E. warmly welcomes the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s recent inauguration of cross-nation delivery planning processes with his Chief Scientific Officer, Professor Lucy Chappell. Sajid Javid’s intervention on social media in the case of Maeve O’Neill was strikingly poignant, touching the hearts of many patients, carers and medics. We…
• NICE 2021: A Triumph of Science over Discrimination1 November 2021
  Doctors with M.E. stands ready to work with partners and organisations to bring medical education up-to-date and assist in developing the right services for ME/CFS patients. “The new guideline represents a positive and total paradigm change, uniting around the science, official disease classification and medico-legal compliance implications.” “This translation of scientific knowledge into clinical practice…
• Public Letter to RCPCH: DwME Associate and Neurodisability Paediatrician Dr. Ben Marsh calls for explanation16 October 2021
  A call for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to explain undermining of scientific review Doctors with M.E. Associate, Neurodisability Paediatrician and representative on the JLA Priority Setting Partnership Steering Group, Dr. Ben Marsh, has publicly written to the President of The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). He requested an explanation for the College’s…
• The NICE debacle – will NICE survive?22 September 2021
  The current NICE debacle and extraordinary deviation from normal procedure and published protocol is further evidence of institutionalised discrimination by large sections of the UK medical establishment.  That one professional and patient group should be treated in a manner at odds with clear and growing scientific knowledge would be unacceptable in any other disease.  Yet…
• Doctors with M.E. Honorary Fellow and founding father of the Human Genome Project comments on the NICE pause – “it is time for the UK to join the rest of the scientific community”13 September 2021
  Doctors with M.E. Honorary Fellow Professor Ron Davis has issued a powerful statement condemning the failure of the UK National Institute of Clinical and Care Excellence to maintain its independence. He describes how it has instead accommodated vested interests, which perpetuate low standards and contra-scientific medical belief systems. “It is a travesty that NICE is…
• Global scientific communities and clinicians urge NICE to publish ME/CFS guideline now2 September 2021
  Doctors with M.E. Board, Fellows & Associates are co-signatories to a public letter written by Dr. David Tuller of the Center of Global Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. The letter writes to urge NICE to publish the new ME/CFS guideline. It is signed by scientists, clinicians, academics and other experts from the…
• Public Letter to DHSC, MHRA, HoC, NICE: Call for a ‘Medical Regulatory Agency’29 August 2021
  A call for change in the face of long-standing regulatory failure The following public communication from our Governance Board regards the opportunity for a new “Medical Regulatory Agency”, ready for the post-brexit and the machine learning digital eras.  The letter also contains background pertaining to long-standing regulatory failure, unlawful medical norms, contra-scientific medical belief systems and…
• Rapid Response and Expert Comment: NICE Guideline Delay and Accommodation of Unlawfulness17 August 2021
  We are very disappointed to hear of the ‘pause’ in publication of the NICE ME/CFS Guideline, already delayed in April. Following the hard work of the Guideline Development Group, we received news of the further delay of guideline publication with both dismay and profound concern for practitioners, their organisations and patients. Continued delay or deviation…
• DwME joins call for NICE to maintain scientific process11 July 2021
  Further to our position statement on the 2021 NICE guideline update, Doctors with M.E. has joined the call for NICE to ensure that unconsulted changes are not injected, as these would avoid scrutiny by the scientific community. DwME considers the 2021 NICE guideline to be a watershed moment in the history of ME/CFS medical care…
• Mass infection is not an option: we must do more to protect our young10 July 2021
  Doctors with M.E. have signed a letter led by epidemiologist Dr. Deepti Gurdasani in The Lancet, warning of grave concerns and consequences from recent UK government announcements. In particular, Doctors with M.E. are extremely concerned regarding the known risks to children from long covid. This letter follows the John Snow Memorandum in The Lancet warning…
• Position Statement: 2021 NICE Guideline Update2 July 2021
  On the 10th of November 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its draft updated guideline on the diagnosis and management of myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy)/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE has updated its 2007 recommendations on the use of psycho-behavioural treatments for ME/CFS, concluding that Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) should no…