New clinical guidance for ME/CFS on HealthPathways

'HealthPathways' is an online system from Health NZ that GPs log into to view best-practice clinical advice for assessing and managing a wide range of health conditions and concerns. There is often standardised national content for a topic, with each region then providing local information to reflect local supports and services on the regions own view of the HealthPathways.

We are excited to announce that the HealthPathways team published updated guidance for #MECFS (#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis / #ChronicFatigueSyndrome) on the Canterbury Community HealthPathways website on 12th March 2025. This information is also available to GPs on the West Coast of NZ.

The pathway includes current evidence-based best-practice clinical advice for health professionals.

The update includes:

• More information on criteria to help with diagnosis.

• More information about assessing and supporting patients with severe ME/CFS.

• Extended management guidance for specific symptoms.

We encourage health professionals who have access to HealthPathways to become familiar with the extended guidance for diagnosis, treatment and management of this debilitating condition. Link: https://canterbury.communityhealthpathways.org/44978.htm

Please reach out to MECFS Canterbury to access the latest research summaries and other guidance, or to assist you in other ways.

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We have prepared a letter about this new information for you to take to your GP, next time you visit. We want GPs to know about the new HealthPathway so that they can support you better.

Click on this link to view and download the letter in our google drive... https://drive.google.com/file/d/19hkC_DkT4-7C0y2ALhgFFauTf9LZ6DR-/view?usp=drive_link 

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FURTHER READING:

To find out more, we recommend:

✦ For patients: www.healthinfo.org.nz/Chronic-fatigue-syndrome-CFS.htm 

✦ Guidance from us: https://www.mecfscanterbury.nz/living-with-me-cfs 

✦ CDC (USA): https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/symptoms-diagnosis/symptoms.html 

✦ NICE (UK): https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206  

✦ Mayo Clinic (USA): https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/s0025-6196(23)00402-0/fulltext  

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DISCLAIMER:

Please note that MECFS Canterbury does not recommend any treatments. Any advice, either explicit or implied, is not intended to replace qualified medical advice. We do not accept any responsibility for any treatment undertaken by readers of any articles or other content, or for any error or omission in connection with any content published on our social media.

MECFS Canterbury is not responsible for the accuracy of content that we link to. The inclusion of such links does not imply endorsement by MECFS Canterbury.