Current Campaigns - Updated 22 December 2010   2000 PATIENTS DENIED ME/CFS SERVICES ! A big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who sent letters to NHS Primary Care Trust Chief Executives, MPs and local newspapers about the massive injustice of 1000’s of ME patients in Tameside and Glossop and also Trafford being denied a vital ME Multidisciplinary Team Service. After more than 5 years of campaigning, we now have GREAT NEWS!   NEW ME SERVICE IN TAMESIDE AND GLOSSOP – SEPTEMBER 2010 Grace Higgins (ex SMEG ME specialist nurse) Co-ordinator for the East Manchester Adult ME/CFS Team has been working hard to set up a new service to start this September in Tameside & Glossop PCT. The service will be offered at one or two locations in Tameside and Glossop and like the proven Stockport service it will provide assessment, management advice and support including group management programmes, one-to-one management programme in-clinic as well as a domiciliary programme for those ME patients house/bedbound. The team will include a ME Nurse, Physiotherapist and CBT support, if appropriate. Referral to a NHS consultant specializing in ME/CFS will also be available. The Multidisciplinary Team will tailor treatment to individual needs and also welcomes and gives support to carers/family members. The management programmes include pacing and activity management; relaxation techniques; managing stress; sleep improvements; graded exercise as appropriate; managing setbacks; cognitive behavioural therapies e.g. coping strategies; goal setting etc. The team is only funded to work part-time but at last there will be trained specialist help to improve symptoms and self-management and increase recovery for the hundreds affected in Tameside & Glossop. If you live in the PCT area; whether you are mildly, moderately or severely affected, long-term or short-term ME this is your chance to get expert help and hopefully regain control over your life. In SMEG’s recent survey of patients using the Multidisciplinary Team Service, 92% of patients rated the service as very helpful or reasonably helpful. To get a referral to the new Tameside & Glossop ME/CFS Service ask your GP to contact: The East Manchester CFS/ME Service Regent House, 6th Floor Heaton Lane Stockport, SK4 1BS Tel: 0161 426 5481 Your GP will then be sent all the information and documents they need to complete. If you are uncertain or would like more information, do phone Derek Vernon (Campaigns) on 0161 427 2325. Mon – Fri only please.       TRAFFORD PCT CAMPAIGN Following on meetings with Chief Executives in January 2009 and March 2010 a proposal for a new ‘integrated ME/CFS Service’ has been prepared and was approved by Trafford’s Clinical committee in June BUT it still has to be approved by the Priorities and Financial committees! Send up a prayer – fingers crossed!