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Primary Care Trust’s in Teesside |
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Despite the strong evidence of need for dedicated services 2000 people with ME have been denied health care.
A comprehensive business case has been presented by The Northern CFS/ME Clinical Network and ME North East for two years running, yet the 4 Tees Primary Care Trusts have failed to fund a Multi Disciplinary Service for CFS/ME. The Postcode lottery of NHS care prevails. Chief Medical Officer in 2002 told us ME “would no longer be ignored or not taken seriously” - The reality in Teesside is that nothing has changed The message reads loud and clear “We do not care” 4 multi disciplinary teams cover the remainder of our region and together have seen over 500 people in the last year. Operating at capacity levels they are unable to accommodate patients outside their locality boundaries unless the Tees PCT’s contract (pay for the cost of treatment) to refer patients. There are a small number of doctors and Consultants with the expertise locally, but they are unable to see many patients within their own specialities because they are so busy. A minimal service funds patients to The Leeds Fatigue Service however this is grossly insufficient to meet demand and denies many completely because they are too ill to travel. We refuse to accept NO for an answer, we will continue to lobby and campaign, we will call again on our Tees MP’s to support us. We ask all our members in the area to write to their MP’s and their PCT Chief Executive to add weight to this campaign. Details of your local contacts are in the Winter edition 2006 of Focus. Alternatively telephone the office for details on 0191 3892222 |