M.E. Local Survey 2024

                         Healthwatch Kingston
 

Since April 2021 Healthwatch Kingston has been running its ‘Pulse Check’ community engagement programme to work more closely with people living with long-term conditions in Kingston and listen to their views and experiences of health and social care services.

 

Healthwatch Kingston was approached by the Richmond and Kingston ME Group to help raise awareness of the issues faced by people living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and Fibromyalgia, also called Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS).

 

In conversations with members of the Richmond and Kingston ME Group, Healthwatch Kingston learnt that ‘the voices of people living with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia were not being heard, and that their conditions were largely misunderstood’. Some of the survey respondents with ME/CFS shared that they also had symptoms of Fibromyalgia and were being treated for both.

 

The findings from this Healthwatch Kingston Pulse Check community engagement work illustrate the need to not only raise awareness and understanding about ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia with the NHS and social care professionals, but also the importance of ensuring that people waiting for an ME/CFS and/or Fibromyalgia diagnosis are informed about the time it may take and that expectations are managed. Clarity for patients and professionals about ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia care pathways, between local GPs and specialist services, would help provide the reassurance required through joined up care for people living with intermittent symptoms from these long-term conditions.

 

If you would like to see the report, you can click the button below, or find it on Healthwatch Kingston’s website. 

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