Torjesen, Ingrid · BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022 · DOI
In 2022, the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released official guidelines for how the NHS should diagnose and treat ME/CFS. This article describes the key steps the NHS was told to take to implement these new guidelines. The guidelines aim to improve care and support for people living with ME/CFS across the country.
This guideline implementation is important because it establishes standardized, evidence-based approaches to ME/CFS diagnosis and management across the NHS, potentially improving care consistency and patient outcomes. For patients, this means clearer pathways to diagnosis and more informed clinical support. For researchers, it represents an opportunity to evaluate how guideline implementation affects clinical practice and patient outcomes.
This guideline document does not present new clinical trial data or prove the effectiveness of specific treatments through empirical research. It does not establish new medical evidence but rather formalizes recommendations based on existing evidence. Implementation of guidelines does not guarantee uniform adoption or improved outcomes without adequate resources and healthcare provider training.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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Primary citation
Torjesen, Ingrid (2022). NICE sets out steps NHS must take to implement ME/CFS guidelines.. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1221
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-torjesen-2022-nice-sets,
author = {Torjesen, Ingrid},
title = {NICE sets out steps NHS must take to implement ME/CFS guidelines.},
journal = {BMJ (Clinical research ed.)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1136/bmj.o1221},
note = {PubMed: 35577360},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/torjesen-2022-nice-sets},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/torjesen-2022-nice-sets
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