The Scottish Government withdraws outdated guideline and endorses NICE.

#MEAction Scotland are delighted by the Scottish Government’s announcement today that it has withdrawn the Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME/CFS. 

We have campaigned for four years to have the NICE guideline officially recognised as the default guideline in Scotland and are delighted that the Government has finally agreed to do this.

The Scottish Good Practice Statement, originally published in 2010, was partially updated in 2023 with recommendations from the NICE guideline. #MEAction Scotland refused to endorse the update and wrote to the Scottish Government saying “the new SGPS is significantly weaker, more confusing, and less safe than the NICE guideline”. Our views are described in full in this article.

There is now a clear direction from the Government to Health Boards and other relevant organisations, and we will continue to campaign for training of healthcare professionals and support for people with ME to be based on the NICE guideline.