NICE guideline delayed until August 2021
March 30, 2021
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) emailed stakeholders yesterday to let us know there will be a delay in the publication of its new guideline for diagnosing and managing M.E./CFS:
"Because of the large number of comments received during consultation on the M.E./CFS guideline, and the additional work needed to respond to them fully, the publication date has changed. The guideline will now publish on 18th August 2021."
This follows a consultation on the draft guideline at the end of last year, with a significant number of responses from registered stakeholders.
The people with M.E. and clinicians who make up the guideline committee that review these responses do so on a voluntary basis, and it's important they have the necessary time to do this.
We are disappointed though that NICE was not able to build in this time from the beginning, and are concerned about the impact this further delay will have on people being supported by doctors using the 2007 guideline.
The draft of the new guideline makes it clear that people with M.E. should not be offered "any therapy based on physical activity or exercise as a treatment or cure for ME/CFS [or] any programme based on fixed incremental increases in physical activity or exercise, for example graded exercise therapy."
If you need information or support about symptom management or discussing any approach with your GP, please get in touch.
