Labour MPs Ian Gibson and Bill O'Brien also both called for more understanding. Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell said the Government was funding research projects, and a working group on ME, chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, was due to report next year. We will then, on the basis of the CMO's report, issue advice to the NHS that will improve the quality of support and in turn the quality of life for the people who suffer from this awful and debilitating condition. Sufferers face hurdles Mavis Moore, chief executive of the ME Association, told BBC News Online that sufferers did indeed get a rough deal from the benefits system. She said that ME sufferers had to undergo medical tests to qualify for Incapacity Benefit, and, because medical opinion was divided, they often failed.
Many cases fail on application, fail on review and have to go to tribunal.
But there is a trend in the last six to 12 months of people failing even at tribunal and having to be referred to the Independent Tribunal Service commissioner. This happened because medical evidence was ignored in favour of that from the Benefits Agency doctor, she said. Misdiagnosis and scepticism about the disease had led to social services threatening to remove people's children in the past, she said. Sometimes social services will think that a child with ME is suffering a school phobia and seek a child protection order. This disease is causing a great deal of distress around the country.