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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department is (a) undertaking and (b) funding into the causes of ME/CFS; and what assessment he has made of the prospects for the success of such research. [99449] Mr. Denham: The Government fund health and medical research in a number of ways: The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC)--which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry--funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base. The MRC has provided support for a Small Project Grant in the area of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, undertaken by Dr. R. K. Morriss at the University of Manchester, entitled "The role of noradrenaline in the neuropsychological pathogenesis on the chronic fatigue syndrome". The total amount awarded was £37,241 and the study was concluded this year. The NHS research and development programme is supporting the following projects: Chronic fatigue syndrome after acute Q fever: a follow-up study of the 1989 outbreak cohort--Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham Should general practitioners manage chronic fatigue syndrome?-- University of Hull Family focused cognitive behavioural therapy for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome--King's College School of Medicine, London Project details of work directly funded by the Department or supported through the NHS R&D levy can be found on the National Research Register (NRR).

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

99449; 340 c67-8W

Session

1999-00

Subjects

ME/CFS Finance Medical treatments Research

Contains statistics

Yes