Rearchers from Bristol examined data from 2,170 patients attending five specialist ME/CFS services to estimate earnings lost as a consequence of ME or CFS and the overall productivity costs to the UK economy. By extrapolating these estimates to the UK population, the researchers estimated that each year 4,424 working age adults with ME or CFS might be referred for specialist assessment, and that this group would have already incurred productivity costs of £102.2 million due to their illness by the time of the assessment.

The researchers believe that the main implication of their findings is that effects on employment and productivity must be accounted for in estimates of the cost-effectiveness of CFS/ME interventions and service provision. Screening for CFS/ME by general practitioners and occupational therapists could be cost-effective in conjunction with early intervention for treating CFS/ME

In addition to this indirect cost, health resource use and welfare payments impose direct costs, and families of patients must bear the costs of informal care, often reducing their own working hours. In young adults, disruption of education reduces productivity in later years. Above and beyond these financial costs, CFS/ME has a huge impact on quality of life. Research is urgently needed to establish whether wider access and earlier referral to specialist CFS/ME services is a cost-effective way of reducing productivity losses.

Full article

The Queen’s Nursing Institute is seeking the views of patients, carers and family members about the nursing care that they have experienced in their own homes. The responses, together with other evidence, will form part of a major new report on home nursing to be launched by the QNI in the Autumn.

The survey is targeted at patients who have experienced nursing care at home, or carers or family members who have observed nursing care being provided to a patient. The QNI hopes that community nurses will encourage their patients to complete the survey. Closes 16th September.

Online survey

In a letter to those who attended his recent seminar Prof Harrington says:

My take on things is that DWP and JCP (in collaboration with Atos where appropriate) are energetically implementing all of my recommendations. Some are complete while others are in progress, the timescales of doing this are different for IB reassessment and new ESA claims. In some cases I believe the JCP staff responsible have actually improved on what I had proposed in light of practical experience. I see real progress and am even more confident of improvements than I was in my interim report to the Minister in May. In addition, genuine advances are being made on the suggested changes to the descriptors as part of my Year 2 review.

To those of you who continue to see no progress, I urge you to be patient. Things are happening and you will see real changes to the fairness and effectiveness of the WCA in the near future even if it takes a while for things to change in a uniform way across the country.

As you will be aware, one of the things I am keen to do through this call for evidence is to collect robust evidence about what is and isn’t working, moving, where possible, away from anecdotal reports. If over time you do not believe that appropriate progress is being made this is another area where robust evidence will help me in making my review as thorough as possible.

More on Prof Harrington’s review

Investigations are under way into how some packets of Nurofen Plus came to contain antipsychotic drugs.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a safety alert following reports that some batches contained Seroquel XL 50mg instead of Nurofen Plus.

Nurofen Plus is being recalled. Consumers are being asked to return packs of Nurofen Plus to their nearest pharmacy following 5 cases of other manufacturers medicine being found in boxes of Nurofen Plus. No other products from the Nurofen range are affected. Sabotage is suspected.

Manufacturer’s statement

In an astonishing U-turn, the General Medical Council has reinstated Dr. Sarah Myhill to the Medical Register. In the previous twenty one months Dr Myhill was either suspended from the Medical Register or forced to practise medicine under severe restrictions. The GMC has conducted a series of prosecutions against Dr. Myhill since 2001, during which time she has faced the prospect of 7 Fitness to Practise Hearings, the most recent having been booked for a full 25 days. All Hearings have been cancelled with no case to answer.

Dr. Myhill has observed “The GMC has been incompetently prosecuting me since 2001. In doing so it has broken its own procedures and the laws of the land. Allegations against me have been vexatious, inconsequential and often untrue. The GMC is a dysfunctional organisation, not fit for purpose”.

Sources close to the GMC say that this has been an orchestrated witch hunt against Dr. Myhill and that the GMC will be deeply embarrassed by their most recent incompetent handling of her case. Indeed, embarrassment might not be the GMC’s only problem because, after a recent Freedom of Information request, it has transpired that, even only considering the most recent action against Dr Myhill alone, the GMC has spent £62,751.60 on solicitors’ fees and other external costs. In addition the GMC’s own internal legal team has clocked up 147 fruitless hours on this most recent case, with the investigation team being unable to disclose its hours!

More information

Mae’r Cynllun Bathodyn Glas yn caniatáu i bobl sy’n cyflawni’r meini prawf cymhwysedd barcio mewn mannau lle y cyfyngir ar barcio’n gyffredinol i fodurwyr eraill. Mae’r Cynllun yn chwarae rhan bwysig yn helpu’r bobl hyn i oresgyn rhai o’r rhwystrau y byddant yn eu hwynebu wrth geisio cael swydd, a chyrraedd siopau a gwasanaethau pwysig eraill. Er mwyn gwneud gwasanaethau mor hygyrch â phosibl, rydym am barhau i ddarparu lleoedd parcio â blaenoriaeth i bobl sy’n ei chael hi’n anodd cyrraedd gwasanaethau angenrheidiol oherwydd bod y gwasanaethau hynny mor bell oddi wrth y mannau parcio a ddarperir. Hynny yw, pobl sy’n methu (neu fwy neu lai’n methu) â cherdded oherwydd bod arnynt nam parhaol a sylweddol neu bobl sydd wedi’u cofrestru â nam ar eu golwg.

Ers cyflwyno’r Cynllun yn yr 1970au, mae cynnydd aruthrol wedi bod yn nifer y Bathodynnau sydd ar waith. Ar hyn o bryd, mae gan dros 230,000 o bobl yng Nghymru Fathodyn Glas, ac mae llawer o’r bobl hyn yn dweud na allent deithio heb y sicrwydd y gallant barcio’n agos at y man lle mae angen iddynt fod. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi ymrwymo i sicrhau bod y Cynllun hollbwysig hwn yn parhau i ddarparu consesiynau parcio â blaenoriaeth i’r rhai y mae angen hynny fwyaf arnynt.

Mae’r ymgynghoriad hwn yn ceisio barn pobl yngl!n â nifer o gynigion i wella’r Cynllun yng Nghymru er mwyn iddo adlewyrchu’r newidiadau cymdeithasol sylweddol sydd wedi digwydd dros y 40 mlynedd diwethaf, ac er mwyn sicrhau bod y Cynllun yn cael ei weinyddu’n effeithlon, yn gyson ac yn deg.

Cyflwynwch eich sylwadau erbyn 31 Hydref 2011.  Sut i ymateb

Mae papur newydd yr Observer yn adrodd fod deuddeg doctor sy’n cael eu cyflogi gan gwmni sy’n cael ei dalu £100m y flwyddyn i asesu pobl sy’n hawlio budd-dâl anabledd yn cael eu harchwilio gan y GMC (General Medical Council) oherwydd cyhuddiadau o ymddygiad anaddas.  Mae’r doctoriaid, sy’n gweithio i Atos Healthcare, cwmni â pherchnogion Ffrengig a gafodd ei feirniadu gan Aelodau Seneddol am ei weithredoedd, yn wynebu cael eu tynnu oddi ar y rhestr doctoriaid os darganfyddir na roddasant ofal cleifion yn flaenllaw.

Darganfyddasant hefyd fod saith o’r doctoriaid wedi bod dan archwiliad am dros saith mis.  Bu i’r pump arall gael eu rhoi dan archwiliad y flwyddyn hon, yn dilyn cwynion am eu hymddygiad.

Deellir fod y mwyafrif o gyhuddiadau ynghylch y driniaeth o bobl fregus pan wnaethpwyd yr “asesiadau gallu i weithio” dadleuol y llywodraeth, ond gwrthododd y GMC i wneud unrhyw sylwadau ar achosion unigol.

Yr erthygl llawn

NICE, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, is conducting a survey to collect information on what patients and the public think of the way the current guidance is presented. You can complete a short online questionnaire asking about your knowledge and experience of using their clinical guidelines. The questionnaire is a mixture of multiple choice questions and opportunities to provide more detailed replies, They do not ask specifically for any comments on the suitability or accuracy of the abbreviated guidelines, although such comments could be appropriate when answering Q. 30. The survey should continue running throughout August and September.

This survey is part of a larger study, DECIDE, which is a five-year collaborative project funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme and is designed to research and improve the way healthcare evidence and recommendations are presented in clinical guidelines.

Mae tri elusen, Action for ME, yr ME Association a ME Research UK, a chyfrannydd preifat wedi ymuno i ariannu’r banc-bio o samplau gwaed dynol cyntaf yn y DU sy’n ymchwilio i’r achosion o Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Syndrom Llesgedd Cronig (ME/CFS).

Mi fydd y banc-bio wedi’i leoli yn ysbyty y Royal Free yn Llundain lle bydd yn medru cysylltu hefo cyfleusterau ymchwil eang yr UCL (University College London).

Am fwy o wybodaeth

Mae ymgyrch wedi’i lansio gan gleifion gyda myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) i godi ymwybyddiaeth a chyllid hanfodol ar gyfer canolfan llawn rhagoriaeth, y cyntaf o’i bath yn Ewrop.

Mae’r ganolfan yn bwriadu newid darganfyddiadau ymchwil bio-feddygol i mewn i driniaethau addas i gleifion hefo ME cyn gynted â phosib. Mi fydd yr ymchwil a gynigir y mwyaf datblygedig â phosib, gan ganolbwyntio ar imiwnoleg a firoleg, gan adeiladu ar y bas-data ymchwil a chaniatau cyd-weithio newydd hefo unedau ymchwil bio-feddygol eraill.

Mi fydd y ganolfan wedi’i lleoli ym Mhrifysgol East Anglia yn Norwich, gyda mynediad i adnoddau rhagorol y parc ymchwil ar y campws.

Caiff y cleifion sy’n cael eu gweld yn y ganolfan newydd eu hasesu yn ôl y safonau deiagnosio diweddaraf, a fydd yn rhoi deiagnosis positif, yn hytrach na deiagnosis drwy eithrio achosion eraill, yn ogystal â’r fantais o ddefnyddio mintai o gleifion wedi’i ddiffinio’n dda ar gyfer yr ymchwil ei hun.

Mae’r ymgyrch Let’s do it for ME wedi cael ei lawnsio gan Invest in ME