Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of patients with suspected myalgic encephalomyelitis that have been (a) misdiagnosed and (b) missed due to the SNOMED CT classification system in primary care.

NHS England has not undertaken an assessment of the coding for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Whilst we are unable to estimate the numbers of patients misdiagnosed or missed, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline NG206 estimates that there are over 250,000 people in England and Wales with ME/CFS. The guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206