§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on his policy on the treatment of ME/CFS in young people and the principle of parental consent to their removal from their home for such treatment; [99453]
(2) if he will make a statement on the provision of specific treatment centres for ME/CFS and on the system of inspection for the centres. [99452]
§ Mr. DenhamThe causes of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis are not fully understood, nor is there a generally agreed method of treatment. Treatment to relieve the wide variety of symptoms which patients can experience is, therefore, a matter for individual doctors to decide in consultation with their patients.
The National Health Service provides a considerable number of services to which people suffering from CFS/ME have access, and such patients are seen within a wide range of hospital specialities. The CFS/ME Working Group will produce guidance aimed at improving the quality of this care and treatment.
67WThe Children's Group of the CFS/ME Working Group, which has been established to review management and practice in the field of CFS/ME with the aim of providing best practice guidance for professionals, patients and carers to improve the quality of care and treatment for people with CFS/ME, will, as the name suggests, focus on issues specific to children. This will include educational and social services issues as well as child specific research. It is also considering reviewing practice in paediatric clinics.
Consent of a young person who has reached the age of 16 to their own medical or surgical treatment is sufficient unless they are not competent to give valid consent, where the consent of a person with parental responsibility should be sought. Such power only extends until the person is 18. The refusal of treatment by a young person competent to give consent may be overridden by consent from a person with parental responsibility or the Courts, provided the treatment is in the young person's best interest. Where the young person is not competent to give consent and a person with parental responsibility refuses consent, the Courts can over-rule that refusal if to do so would be in the child's best interest.
§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what experiments are taking place on young patients suffering from ME/CFS; and if he will make a statement. [99450]
§ Mr. DenhamWe are not aware of any experiments taking place on young patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department is(a) undertaking and (b) funding into the causes of ME/CFS; and what assessment he has made of the prospects for the success of such research. [99449]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Government fund health and medical research in a number of ways:
The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC)—which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry—funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.
The MRC has provided support for a Small Project Grant in the area of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, undertaken by Dr. R. K. Morriss at the University of Manchester, entitled "The role of noradrenaline in the neuropsychological pathogenesis on the chronic fatigue syndrome". The total amount awarded was £37,241 and the study was concluded this year.
The NHS research and development programme is supporting the following projects:
Chronic fatigue syndrome after acute Q fever: a follow-up study of the 1989 outbreak cohort—Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham68WShould general practitioners manage chronic fatigue syndrome?—University of HullFamily focused cognitive behavioural therapy for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome—King's College School of Medicine, LondonProject details of work directly funded by the Department or supported through the NHS R&D levy can be found on the National Research Register (NRR).