Health boards join to make ME care better

NHS Lothian is working with other health boards in the east of Scotland in a bid to improve care for patients with ME.

It is understood bosses are in the process of striking up an agreement with boards in Fife, the Borders, Tayside and Forth Valley.

It would see a regional team established, which would look to boost treatment and educate other health professionals in the Lothians about the woes and symptoms of ME.

Around 4000 people in Edinburgh are thought to suffer from the disease, which comes in different severities and can leave the patient unable even to get out of bed.

Local organisations criticised NHS Lothian for not implementing recommendations in a report about scepticism of the illness, but meetings are now taking place about how to move the Believe in ME document forward into general healthcare in the region.