caa a22 4500 397577761 CHVBK 20180308164900.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161202e199609 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024516 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)oxford-10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024516 Sutton Graham C. Nuffield Institute for Health, 71-75 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9PL ‘Too tired to go to the support group': a health needs assessment of myalgic encephalomyelitis [Elektronische Daten] [Graham C. Sutton] Background Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a mysterious and controversial condition. Debate has centred upon its causation, and the purchasing question - which services to commission for people with ME - has not been addressed. Methods A health needs assessment was made of people with ME in Wakefield, based upon published (including grey) literature, and local informants. Results Previous studies have mostly reflected institutional outbreaks; local needs will reflect community, sporadic cases but there is little information about these. The very wide estimates of prevalence (between zero and 57000 for a district the size of Wakefield) indicate a fundamental problem over the validity of the concept of ME. Four sets of health needs emerged from the literature and from local informants: a medical diagnosis, rest, specific treatments and social care. All four are highly debatable. Conclusion There are no proven services or interventions which the health authority should purchase for people with ME. Purchasing, being a blunt tool for service change, is unlikely to improve health care given the disagreements over the condition. © Oxford University Press Articles nationallicence chronic fatigue syndrome nationallicence encephalomyelitis nationallicence health needs assessment nationallicence Journal of Public Health Oxford University Press 18/3(1996-09), 343-349 1741-3842 18:3<343 1996 18 pubmed https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024516 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024516 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Sutton Graham C. Nuffield Institute for Health, 71-75 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9PL NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Public Health Oxford University Press 18/3(1996-09), 343-349 1741-3842 18:3<343 1996 18 pubmed Metadata rights reserved CC BY-NC-4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-oxford