Government pledges to ‘transform care' for people with ME
It comes after the high-profile death of a young woman from the disease.
Maeve Boothby-O'Neill, 27, suffered with ME for a decade before she died at home in Exeter in October 2021 from severe malnutrition.
Her inquest heard how she had been admitted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital three times that year for treatment for malnutrition.
The 10-day hearing focused on the final few months of her life, by which time she was confined to bed, unable to chew food and had difficulty drinking because she was not able to sit up.
Miss Boothby-O'Neill, the daughter of Sean O'Neill, a journalist with The Times newspaper, had been suffering from fatigue since the age of 13, which got worse after she completed her A-levels.
Deborah Archer, now an area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, concluded Miss Boothby-O'Neill had died from natural causes 'because of severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)'.
Last year she wrote to the Government to highlight a lack of specialist beds, 'extremely limited' training for doctors and lack of available funding for research and treatment of the condition.
On Tuesday, the Government said that it has created a plan which 'outlines clear steps to improve care for patients, by investing in research and offering access to care in the community'.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) acknowledged that many people with the condition 'currently struggle to access appropriate care tailored to their complex condition'.
The plan, which is expected to be published on Tuesday, will include new training for NHS workers, DHSC said.
And the document will also include funding for research, the DHSC said.
Public health minister Ashley Dalton, said: 'ME/CFS is a debilitating illness that can severely limit patients' ability to participate in everyday activities, maintain employment, or enjoy family and social life.
'Today's plan will help tackle the stigma and lack of awareness of this condition through improved training for NHS staff.
'And through our neighbourhood health services, we will ensure patients suffering from the effects of ME/CFS can access quality care, closer to home, as pledged in our 10-Year Health Plan.
But Action for ME said that the plan 'does not go far enough'.
Sonya Chowdhury, chief executive of the charity, said: 'We appreciate the time DHSC has put into the delivery plan and their engagement with us and the ME community throughout.
'However, the plan simply does not go far enough. We are at the stage now where we need more than rhetoric, we need to take a strategic approach if we want a different outcome. What is proposed in the plan will not offer this.
'We must have a funded, dedicated research hub to leverage our world-leading life sciences sector to unlock treatments and ultimately cures for ME.
'Without a commitment to better co-ordinate research, people with ME will continue to be neglected, overlooked and, for many, confined to their homes.
'ME charities have been calling for this funding to be accelerated for years and we are still not seeing a strategic approach to address this historic shortfall. Once again, it feels like people with ME have been ignored.'
Dr Charles Shepherd, honorary medical advisor and trustee at the ME Association, said: 'Whilst today's announcement is an important step forward in helping to improve the quality of life of people with ME/CFS, the Government must now go much further to improve their medical care and management and help to fund much needed biomedical research into cause and treatment.'
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Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The TRUTH about resident doctors' pay and their eye-watering demands for up to £20,000 extra a year - ahead of 5-day NHS strike
Striking NHS doctors are wielding misleading statistics to justify their eye-watering pay demands, analysis suggests. In pursuit of salary hikes worth up to £20,000, resident doctors will bring hospitals to a standstill from Friday as they walkout for five consecutive days. Militant union bosses orchestrating the carnage claim the medics – previously known as junior doctors – need a rise worth in excess of 29 per cent to make up for 17 years of 'pay erosion'. This is on top of the average 28.9 per cent awarded to resident doctors over the last three years, including an inflation-busting hike this year of 5.4 per cent – the most generous in the public sector. British Medical Association (BMA) bosses argue this is not enough. Health Secretary Wes Streeting blasted the BMA's strike action, calling it 'shockingly irresponsible' and insisting he will not budge on pay. The Government claims the average full-time basic pay of a resident doctor now sits at £54,300. This is up from around £42,000 in 2022/23. If the BMA's demands are met, their average basic salary would exceed £70,000 per year. Compared with 2024/25 pay packets, this would give the most senior resident doctors an extra £20,000. Ministers are still seeking a deal to avert more strike chaos, which could see doctors have some of their student loan debt wiped off to appease them. Resident doctors have taken industrial action 11 times since initial negotiations began in 2022. Campaign materials pushed out by the BMA say pay erosion equates to 21 per cent below inflation since 2008/09. On its website, the union writes: 'Put another way, resident doctors are still working a fifth of their time for free.' However, this sum is calculated against the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation measure. Tracking resident doctors' salary against the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead, the Nuffield Trust found they are just 4.7 per cent below since 2008. Addressing this erosion would amount to an average lift of around five per cent. This would amount to an average pay boost of below £3,000. When measured against CPI levels since 2015/16, the Nuffield Trust revealed resident doctors have actually had a 7.9 per cent pay increase. Government sources have criticised the BMA's use of RPI in its calculations because it overstates inflation. It was, for this reason, the statistics watchdog downgraded RPI as an official national measure in 2013. Since then, CPI and CPIH (CPI including housing costs) have been the accepted standards for calculating inflation. MailOnline understands the Government will phase out its use by the end of the decade. Grilled about the pay of other NHS staff, Mr Streeting told MPs that cash is 'finite'. He said: 'These sorts of choices and trade-offs about resources are precisely why I asked BMA resident doctors to understand why, having received a 28.9 per cent pay rise from this government in the last year, they ought to remember the responsibility that I have, and they also have to some of their lower paid colleagues. 'Resources are finite, and it is important that I act in the interests of all NHS staff and have particular concern for those who work extremely hard but are not properly rewarded.' However, the BMA has defended its use of RPI, arguing it is a more accurate metric for everyday people. A BMA spokesperson said: 'RPI is a measure which we, in line with the wider trade union movement, believe best reflects the real life experience of working people in the UK, and which the Government continues to use when it suits. 'For one thing, RPI sets student loan repayments. In a country where new doctors often have student debts of over £100,000 this is a hefty chunk of their living costs. 'Car taxes and train fare caps are also set by RPI, making up a huge part of the costs of many doctors finding themselves with long commuting distances as they get moved around the country on rotations. 'These moves also mean the need to find housing, a cost which itself feeds back into the calculations of RPI and make it even more relevant to the life of a working doctor.' MailOnline analysis shows that basic full-time equivalent (FTE) pay packets for all but one group of resident doctors has risen over the past 15 years against CPIH. Just foundation year 2 (FY2) doctors have seen a pay erosion when looking at the figures this way. FY1, core training and speciality registrar doctors' salaries were 1.1, 6.5 and 1.7 per cent higher, respectively, in March 2025 than August 2010, when compared with CPIH inflation. Our calculations only include basic pay, so the approximate one-quarter of doctors' salaries which is additional pay – such as overtime and uplifts for unsocial hours – is not included. In September, BMA members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years to end a swathe of strike action plaguing the previous Tory government. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4 per cent uplift plus £750 'on a consolidated basis'. This worked out as an average pay rise of 5.4 per cent, totalling 28.9 per cent over the three years. However, this did not prove enough to ward off further strike action, with BMA members overwhelmingly voting in favour of fresh action over the offer. Nearly 90 per cent of 30,000 doctors (55 per cent turnout) voted to walk out. A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care told MailOnline: 'Resident doctors have seen the biggest pay rises in the public sector two years in a row thanks to this government, and a pay increase of 28.9 per cent across three years. 'Public support for resident doctors strikes has collapsed and the majority of BMA resident doctors did not even vote for these strikes.' Nuffield Trust researcher Lucina Rolewicz said: 'You can paint a very different picture of real-terms changes to resident doctors' pay packets over time, depending on the methods you use. 'It's important to look at a range of baseline years to get a more complete understanding of what has happened to pay. For example, if you look at what's changed since 2008, pay erosion appears much worse than if you looked at the changes since 2015 in isolation. 'Against the CPI measure of inflation, this can make the difference of showing a 4.7 per cent fall in pay since 2008 or a 7.9 per cent increase since 2015. 'Comparing changes to pay at the same point in time, using different measures of inflation, also results in very different answers. For instance, resident doctor pay has fallen by 4.7 per cent since 2008 against CPI, but has decreased by 17.9 per cent over the same period when using RPI. 'Given the importance of the debate for doctors, their colleagues, patients and taxpayers, it is crucial that we look at all the ways that pay can be seen to have changed.' It comes after a report yesterday warned the looming strikes could cause 250,000 appointments to be cancelled or postponed this month. The walkouts may also cost the NHS £87million in staffing cover, the Policy Exchange think-tank said. Charities have expressed their 'deep concern' at the action and warned it will cause 'significant distress, pain and worsening health for patients'. Consultants will be able to cash-in by charging hospitals inflated rates of up to £2,504 a shift to cover for absent junior colleagues, depleting them of funds that could have been used to buy new scanners, repair buildings or deliver more procedures. Resident doctors have qualified from medical school but remain in clinical training for up to eight years. They work under the supervision of senior doctors during their on-the-job experience. Previous strikes by junior doctors led to the deaths of at least five patients, an audit revealed last week. NHS leaders have warned even 'more lives could be put at risk' during next week's five-day full walkout.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Starmer issues last-ditch appeal as thousands of doctors to strike
Thousands of resident doctors are beginning a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay. Resident doctors will take to picket lines across England from 7am on Friday in a move which is expected to disrupt patient care. Members of the public have been urged to come forward for NHS care during the walkout, and are being asked to attend appointments unless told they are cancelled. GP surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available, alongside NHS 111, NHS England said. Sir Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. 'The route the BMA Resident Doctors Committee have chosen will mean everyone loses. My appeal to resident doctors is this: do not follow the BMA leadership down this damaging road. Our NHS and your patients need you,' he wrote in The Times. He added: 'Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage.' 'Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed. And worse, late diagnoses and care that risks their long-term health. 'It's not fair on patients. It's not fair on NHS staff who will have to step in for cover for those taking action. And it is not fair on taxpayers. 'These strikes threaten to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery.' It comes after Wes Streeting sent a personal letter to NHS resident doctors, saying: 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in.' The Health Secretary said while he cannot pledge a bigger pay rise, he has been committed to progress to improve doctors' working lives. He also said he does not now believe the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee (RDC) has 'engaged with me in good faith' over bids to avert the strike. In the letter sent on Thursday afternoon to resident doctors, Mr Streeting said: 'I wanted to write to you personally about the situation we find ourselves in. 'This Government came into office, just over a year ago, with a great deal of sympathy for the arguments that resident doctors were making about pay, working conditions and career progression. 'I was determined to build a genuine partnership with the… RDC to make real improvements on all three fronts. 'We have made progress together. While some of my critics in Parliament and the media believe I was naive to agree such a generous pay deal to end the strikes last year, I stand by that choice.' Mr Streeting said resident doctors have now had an average 28.9% pay award under Labour. He added: 'Strike action should always be a last resort – not the action you take immediately following a 28.9% pay award from a Government that is committed to working with you to further improve your lives at work. 'While I've been honest with the BMA RDC that we cannot afford to go further on pay this year, I was prepared to negotiate on areas related to your conditions at work and career progression, including measures that would put money back in the pockets of resident doctors.' Mr Streeting said that based on talks with the BMA aimed at averting strikes, he had been determined to tackle the 'arduous' training pathway, and 'I made it clear that I was prepared to agree actions to reduce the costs you face as a result of training'. He said he had also been looking at the cost of equipment, food and drink, and 'was prepared to explore how many further training posts could be created – additional to the 1,000 already announced – as early as possible'. Mr Streeting said talks had been progressing but 'I no longer believe that they (RDC) have engaged with me in good faith'. The Health Secretary continued: 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in. 'The public, and I am sure many of you, do not understand the rush to strike action.' Mr Streeting later said there is 'no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around'. He added: 'But I am determined to keep disruption to patients at a minimum and continue with the recovery we have begun delivering in the last 12 months after a decade-and-a-half of neglect. We will not be knocked off course.' Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, told the PA news agency health staff will be working 'flat out' to see as many patients as they can during the strike, after NHS England made clear it wants as much pre-planned care as possible to continue. He said: 'Striking doctors should think carefully if they are really doing the right thing for patients, for the NHS and for themselves… 'The strike will throttle hard-won progress to cut waiting lists, but NHS trust leaders and staff will be working flat out to see that as many patients as possible get the care they need.' It is understood that NHS chief Sir Jim Mackey had told trust leaders to try to crack down on resident doctors' ability to work locum shifts during the strike and earn money that way. Leaders have also been encouraged to seek 'derogations', where resident doctors are required to work during the strikes, in more circumstances, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported. Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: 'These strikes were not inevitable – the Government entered negotiations with the BMA in good faith… 'The impact of these strikes and the distress they will cause patients rests with the BMA.' The BMA has argued that real-terms pay has fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'. The union is taking out national newspaper adverts on Friday, saying it wants to 'lay bare the significant pay difference between a resident doctor and their non-medically qualified assistants'. It said the adverts 'make clear that while a newly qualified doctor's assistant is taking home over £24 per hour, a newly qualified doctor with years of medical school experience is on just £18.62 per hour'. RDC co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said in a statement: 'Pay erosion has now got to the point where a doctor's assistant can be paid up to 30% more than a resident doctor. 'That's going to strike most of the public that use the NHS as deeply unfair. 'Resident doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, but unfortunately they've seen their pay erode by more than 21% in the last two decades. 'We're not working 21% less hard so why should our pay suffer? 'We're asking for an extra £4 per hour to restore our pay. It's a small price to pay for those who may hold your life in their hands.' The statement said Mr Streeting had had every opportunity to prevent the strike, but added: 'We want these strikes to be the last we ever have to participate in. 'We are asking Mr Streeting to get back around the table with a serious proposal as soon as possible – this time with the intent to bring this to a just conclusion.' Resident doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training. They have completed a medical degree and can have up to nine years of working experience as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to five years of working and gaining experience to become a GP. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the framing of the BMA advertising campaign was 'disingenuous'. 'Given their repeated use of debunked ways of measuring inflation to overstate their pay claims, it follows a pattern of deliberately misleading calculations from the BMA,' a spokesperson said. 'The average annual earnings per first year resident doctor last year was £43,275. That is significantly more, in a resident doctor's first year, than the average full-time worker in this country earns. 'Resident doctors in their second year earned an average of £52,300 last year and at the top end of the scale, resident doctors in specialty training earned an average almost £75,000 – this is set to increase further with this year's pay award.' The Conservatives accused Labour of having 'opened the door' to fresh strikes with a 'spineless surrender to union demands last year'. Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: 'They handed out inflation-busting pay rises without reform, and now the BMA are back for more. 'They are disrupting care, ignoring patients and gambling with lives. 'This is a betrayal of the NHS and those who rely on it. 'The public deserves hospitals where the doctors are on the frontline rather than the picket line. 'But every day Labour refuses to stand up to union overreach, Britain moves closer to a health service run on the unions' terms rather than the patients'.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Food for thought... how we comfort eat our way to 344,064 calories a year
We have all reached for a bar of chocolate or packet of crisps after a trying day. But our fondness for a snack when feeling down is adding many thousands of extra calories to our diets, a poll has revealed. A quarter of Britons questioned in the survey said they would describe themselves as an emotional eater – admitting to eating 28,672 'comfort calories' a month, or 344,064 a year. Almost nine in ten of those surveyed said they had eaten food out of boredom or sadness, despite not being hungry. Many said they felt guilty as a result. However, 78 per cent said they wanted to reduce the amount they eat because of feeling sensitive to weight gain. The most popular emotional nibbles were bags of crisps, chocolate bars, biscuits, bananas, buttered toast and instant noodles. Nuts, cheese, sausage rolls, and crumpets were also common snacks chosen to give us an emotional boost. Somewhat depressingly, four in ten of the 20,000 participants surveyed described food as their only real enjoyment in life. Psychologist Dr Becky Spelman said: 'Emotional eating is deeply rooted in how we were raised. 'Many of us were given treats as a reward for being good or to soothe us when we were upset, so food becomes more than just fuel; it's a source of emotional comfort.' She said recognising the pattern was the first step towards replacing habits with something that 'genuinely nurtures us emotionally'. 'Real change begins with kindness, with treating yourself like someone you care about, even when you're struggling,' Dr Spelman added. 'That shift in perspective is what helps break the cycle.' Dr Babak Ashrafi from Superdrug Online Doctor, which commissioned the survey, said: 'With the latest Government stats showing six in ten of us are obese or overweight, it seems many Brits need to break the cycle of emotional eating.'
