{"id":47534,"date":"2025-10-29T14:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=47534"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:26:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:26:49","slug":"north-wales-health-board-launches-expanded-me-cfs-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/north-wales-health-board-launches-expanded-me-cfs-service\/","title":{"rendered":"North Wales Health Board launches expanded ME\/CFS service"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Services for ME\/CFS in North Wales<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Betsi Caldwaladr University Health Board has launched an expanded service for people with ME\/CFS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u2018The new <a href=\"https:\/\/bcuhb.nhs.wales\/services\/services-in-the-community\/living-well-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Living Well Service<\/a> provides access to a wide range of health professionals and support, whilst also maintaining dedicated support for people with ME\/ CFS. This service is an expansion of the long COVID service, through Welsh Government funding.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-47538 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?resize=880%2C495&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?resize=150%2C84&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BCUHB-Living-well-service.png?w=1096&amp;ssl=1 1096w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 880px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 880\/495;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">&#8220;The new service now provides:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Assessment<\/li>\n<li>Diagnosis<\/li>\n<li>A range of treatment and support<\/li>\n<li>Support to develop a personalised care and support plan&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>BCUHB&#8217;s view of\u00a0 ME\/CFS?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>ME\/CFS is a neurological and complex condition affecting multiple systems in the body.\u00a0 Diagnostic criteria for ME\/CFS list a range of symptoms including cognitive impairments, orthostatic intolerance, pain, fatigue, difficulty sleeping and more.<\/p>\n<p>The hallmark characteristic of the illness is post-exertional malaise (PEM), which is an abnormal response to physical, cognitive, social and\/or emotional exertion leading to additional symptoms or an exacerbation of ongoing symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>80% of ME\/CFS occurs after an infection including COVID-19. (<a href=\"https:\/\/bcuhb.nhs.wales\/services\/services-in-the-community\/living-well-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">from Living Well website<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Health Board tell WAMES more about the service:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #993366;\">Who?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">All adults of any severity can apply for support<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Referral?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">You can be referred by a GP, Allied Health Care Professional, Hospital Consultant or Social worker BUT you can also refer yourself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Self-referral form: <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/pages\/responsepage.aspx?id=uChWuyjjgkCoVkM8ntyPro2TPnJAVFBFpl49vF4ZgHhUNk9XS0dYWUFURUVKVEVCUk43Nk1WOUkyRSQlQCN0PWcu&amp;route=shorturl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">English<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0or Call 03000 840007 or\u00a0 <a href=\"BCU.LWSQueriesPanBCU@wales.nhs.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Time limit?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">No. Access for as long as you need and self refer back in if desired<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Who staffs the Living Well Service?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">GP<br \/>\nPhysiotherapists<br \/>\nOccupational therapists<br \/>\nDietitians<br \/>\nClinical or counselling psychologists<br \/>\nAdvanced Clinical Practitioners<br \/>\nSpeech and Language Therapist<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Who delivers the 2 ME\/CFS Services (East and West)?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Consultant Clinical Psychologists<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Specialist Physiotherapist &amp; Occupational Therapist<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>What happens once my application is accepted?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">You will meet with someone, in person or online, depending on preference, for a holistic assessment. People are welcome to bring carers or significant others with them to the initial assessment, as needed. Home visits are also an option, if more severely affected.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">You will be given the opportunity, where appropriate, to join the 8 week ME\/CFS course where you can learn and share with others with ME\/CFS. And there can be the option of\u00a0individual follow-up, where applicable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">You may also wish to join some of the general courses\u00a0 or consult professionals about a range of issues such as mobility, aids, employment, diet, specific symptoms etc.\u00a0 There may also be a need to refer you for further investigations, especially if you have multiple conditions or a symptom is particularly troublesome. Help will be given to devise a management or care plan.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>What will the care and support plan cover?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The range of support outlined in the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nice.org.uk\/guidance\/ng206\/chapter\/Recommendations#multidisciplinary-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> NICE ME\/CFS guideline NG206<\/a> (1.10)<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Which symptom &amp; lifestyle\u00a0 monitoring tools are used?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/csh.depaul.edu\/about\/centers-and-institutes\/ccr\/myalgic-encephalomyelitis-cfs\/Pages\/measures.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ)<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/resref.com\/euroqol-5-dimension-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EQ5D5L<\/a> &#8211; Health Related Quality of Life Assessment &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mg-united.com\/content\/dam\/mg-united-us\/pdf\/EQ-5D-5L-Scale.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Questionnaire<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthmeasures.net\/explore-measurement-systems\/promis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PROMIS<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outcomesstar.org.uk\/discovery-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovery Star (Outcome Star)<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Which energy management tools are supported?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.makevisible.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visible app<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Activity logs and worksheets<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Symptom diaries<\/p>\n<h2><strong>More information<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bcuhb.nhs.wales\/news\/2025\/new-service-launches-in-north-wales-to-support-people-with-mecfs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the announcement<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bcuhb.nhs.wales\/services\/services-in-the-community\/living-well-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Living Well Service website<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>WAMES is delighted that the ME\/CFS service in north Wales aims to offer all adults with ME\/CFS a service that is shaped by the ME\/CFS NICE guideline (2021). <\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>The development of the service will be an ongoing process, so please contact us with your experiences of the service, so we can get a good picture of its strengths, weaknesses and gaps and we will then feed back\u00a0<\/strong><strong>to the Health Board\u00a0<\/strong><strong>with constructive comments.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><a href=\"mailto:jan@wames.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jan@wames.org.uk\u00a0<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Services for ME\/CFS in North Wales &nbsp; Betsi Caldwaladr University Health Board has launched an expanded service for people with ME\/CFS: \u2018The new Living Well Service provides access to a wide range of health professionals and support, whilst also maintaining &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/north-wales-health-board-launches-expanded-me-cfs-service\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-cmG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47534"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47775,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47534\/revisions\/47775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}