Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure integrated care boards are accountable for commissioning effective services for patients with very severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome until the nationally commissioned specialised service is introduced.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of specialised services that meet the needs of their local populations. ICBs are expected to commission services in line with National Health Service expectations of care. NHS England supports ICBs through statutory guidance, service specifications, and the Strategic Commissioning Framework, but decisions on commissioning and service configuration ultimately rest with individual ICBs, based on local need. This is also the case for the commissioning of services for all levels of severity of myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

The action within July 2025’s final delivery plan on ME/CFS, to consider whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for very severe ME/CFS has been delayed until April 2027.

Officials in the Department and NHS England are currently considering, along with ME/CFS stakeholders, interim measures to support patients with very severe ME/CFS, including referencing severe and very severe ME/CFS in a new template service specification for mild and moderate ME/CFS.