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Written question asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 December 2025. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Friday, 12 December 2025 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

ME/CFS: Dietetics

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of dietitians with a special interest in chronic fatigue syndrome, and how many of those dietitians there are in England.

Answer

The Department does not hold information on the number of dieticians who hold specialist knowledge or experience relating to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics, with the data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, which is the payroll and human resources system for the National Health Service. This means it allows for identification of staff by broad staffing groups, including dieticians, working in Hospital and Community Health Services, but it does not provide the level of detail needed to identify staff with the skills, knowledge or experience of working with patients with specific conditions or allow identification of the types of patients and service delivery areas that staff may be involved in on a day to day basis. The latest data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL12373
Session
2024-26
Subjects
ME/CFS Dietetics
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk