Outrage at chronic fatigue syndrome advice update pause

With just hours left to go, a health watchdog has paused a final update to ME treatment guidance due to disagreement on some of it's contents. Charities have expressed their anger over this decision as NICE says it needs more discussions with patient groups and professionals so that the advice is supported.

Although it is not yet clear when the guidance will be published, the advice on CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) has been changed as it was only helping with anxiety around the condition rather than the illness itself, with NICE acknowledging the controversy over the best treatment has served only to alienate many people with the condition.

"We were extremely concerned that the final guidelines proposed by NICE may not have taken into consideration the extensive comments we made to the draft version, particularly in relation to treatments we know to have significantly benefited many patients." Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, has said. 

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Source: BBC News, 17 August 2021