The DHSC have written to us to say that they have paused action on commissioning a specialised service for very severe ME/CFS until April 2027 at the earliest.
The reasons given by the DHSC include changes to the integrated care board composition and commissioning responsibilities; the planned abolition of NHS England (NHSE) in April 2027; and the time-limited resource constraints associated with these structural changes to health systems.
This isn’t acceptable Wes Streeting!
The abolition of NHS England was known about before the final delivery plan (FDP) was published in July 2025 but NHSE oversight of the very severe service was still included in the plan. We challenged the DHSC on this before publication:
‘The FDP states that, ‘DHSC, with NHS England, will explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by the Secretary of State for Health for very severe ME/CFS.’ As NHS England has been abolished, who will take their role here? There is urgency to avoid more deaths from malnutrition and there is no immediate interim solution (e.g. hospital outreach or rapid-response teams) offered. We urge the rapid setting up of interim home-IV and parenteral nutrition protocols to prevent further deaths.’
Join us as we build #MillionsMissing 2026 around the urgent need for a service for very severe ME sufferers.
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