UK: George Eliot Hospital NHS CFS clinic

[Sly Saint]

Who We Are

The CFS clinic consists of a multi-disciplinary team of consultants (led by Professor Vinod Patel) and includes registrars, junior doctors, physician associate and occupational therapist.

Aims/Focus

The service at GEH is focused on the following aims:

Offer a specific diagnosis of CFS and exclude other conditions that can mimic these

Management of treatable conditions which can exacerbate CFS

Offer support and advice on the patient’s concerns, including treatment of some
symptom
Promote and empower individuals to self-manage the condition

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Therapy
The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Therapy service offers assistance in managing patterns and levels of activity and rest to maximise function, with the aim of reducing an increase in symptoms and flare ups.

When patients are referred to the service they will be offered an appointment to have a full holistic assessment. Once a full assessment has been completed with the therapist they will receive a treatment pathway which is bespoke to that person.

Treatment pathway can include the following:

Pacing and grading of activities – including education about the “boom and bust” cycle of activity.

Sleep management – including sleep hygiene and the use of sleep dairies.

Work and Educational advice. This may include advice giving to employers and educational establishments.

Memory and concentration advice.

Rest and relaxation.

Stress management advice.

Relapse and setbacks advice.

The aim is to provide patients with the knowledge of how to create the best conditions for recovery to occur, and for patients to become an expert in managing their own condition.

This service is led by two senior Occupational Therapists, Tracy Atkins and Gail Loveridge-Wickins.

https://www.geh.nhs.uk/directory-of-services/specialties-and-services/c/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

 

[Peter T]

Not very with it today, but it is worry that they still call themselves a CFS clinic when the new NICE ME/CFS guidelines have been formally published for some eighteen months (29 October 2021) and were available in draft form well before then.

 

[Peter T]

The CFS Clinic and Service pages read better than the CFS title might lead you to expect.

The Hospital webpage says this of Professor Vinod Patel

Professor Vinod Patel is a Professor in Clinical Skills at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. He is also Honorary Consultant Physician in Endocrinology and Diabetes, Acute Medicine and Medical Obstetrics at the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.


He trained in Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Hammersmith and the Royal London hospitals. He obtained a Doctorate on Haemodynamic Factors in the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Retinopathy from the University of London and has multiple papers arising from the work. Whilst his specialist area of research is prevention of diabetic complications, he has a passion for clinical diabetes care. He is jointly qualified in Hospital Medicine and General Practice and has this has allowed him to work relatively seamlessly across the primary care/secondary care interface and improve effectiveness in delivery of diabetes care for the local Community. His commitment to Clinical Education is to help create world-class healthcare professionals that will be capable of dealing with the clinical, managerial and professional challenges of the future.

His Diabetes Care Team was instrumental in developing the “Alphabet Strategy” for patient-centred, evidence-based, multi-professional diabetes care. This preventative and treatment-orientated strategy has been taught in numerous courses and seminars across UK with multiple international presentations at conferences. The most recent venture is the delivery of two workshops in Bahrain sponsored by the UN Development Programme.

His work is driven by the deep held belief that a patient-centred, outcome-based, team-working approach can lead to a reduction in all premature complications of diabetes and indeed complications of all long-term conditions by at least 50%, thereby significantly improving the quality of life of people in UK.

Updated Jun 2018 see https://www.geh.nhs.uk/directory-of-services/consultants/p/patel-prof-vinod/

And Warwick University says this of him

Research Interests
Whilst his specialist area of research is retinal blood flow in diabetic retinopathy he has a passion for diabetes clinical care.

Biography
Dr. Vinod Patel is Consultant Physician in Endocrinology and Diabetes at George Eliot hospital, NHS Trust in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. He is also Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Warwick, now part of the Leicester Warwick Medical School. His main interests are in prevention of diabetes complications. He trained in Endocrinology and Diabetes at Hammersmith hospital and the Royal London hospitals. He obtained a MD Doctorate in Haemodynamic Factors in the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Retinopathy from the University of London and has multiple papers arising from the work.

See https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/staff/patel/ also lists his publications and research interests, but I did not notice anything ME/CFS specific

 

[Sean]

Treatment pathway can include the following:

Pacing and grading of activities – including education about the “boom and bust” cycle of activity.

Sleep management – including sleep hygiene and the use of sleep dairies.

Work and Educational advice. This may include advice giving to employers and educational establishments.

Memory and concentration advice.

Rest and relaxation.

Stress management advice.

Relapse and setbacks advice.

And these are based on what evidence (specific to ME)? Especially that hoary old chestnut, the "boom and bust" cycle?

 

[bobbler]

It looks like a complete website update has happened: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome :: George Eliot Hospital (geh.nhs.uk)

renamed to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Still the same consultant listed on the main website pages.

But strangely google AI seems to want to associate Dr Edmond Sung (Gastroenterologist) to the clinic, yet I can't be sure of that association.

Worth a look through as have some concerns about the resources and risk factors sections. Worrying when something gets worse rather than better.

 

[bobbler]

OK this job description (at the bottom) is ominous and explains some of the downhill slide in knowledge/increase in tropes that can be found in their documents.
Chronic_Fatigue_Syndrome_Care_Plan_2014_B.docx (live.com)

CFS_Self_help_A3_Booklet.pdf (geh.nhs.uk) - this one could be used by one of the charities as a main basis for the trope list, it is apalling and has every idiot trope-graph and term in the book just back-to-back in it. Soooo harmful. I'm not sure I've ever seen an official clinic actually dare write down the 'lying in bed all day' ism... all about deconditioning - so can't read the guideline then. I'm quite flabbergasted about how ignorant to the harm it would cause you must be to write this in 2024.

Along with the decision in resources section to put the links in order of the NHS CFS/ME website, then Nice guideline for 'Tiredness/fatigue in adults' all above the Nice guideline for ME/CFS that they should be being funded to deliver, carefully also not putting it last (the covid guidance is after it) lest that benefit from the primacy-recency effect.

and their choice to rename their department Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (previously CFS) rather than ME/CFS

So the message is clear that they are moving further away from the new guideline?

Job Advert (jobs.nhs.uk)
Specialist Occupational Therapist in Chronic Fatigue
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
Information:
This job is now closed

Job summary

Job Title Specialist Occupational Therapist in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Hours per week 22.5 Permanent

Salary £33,706-£40,588 per annum, pro rata

Closing Date: 21/04/2023


Main duties of the job

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated Occupational Therapist to work as a condition-specific Specialist practitioner in a developing and dynamic outpatient setting.

In this role you will be supported to develop your biopsychosocial assessment skills and interventional skills working with patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), who often have complex needs and co-morbidities. Your role will allow you to empower patients in self-managing their long term condition and maximise their function.

You will be able to engage in and develop multi-modal treatment pathways for patients referred by their Consultant to the CFS Therapy service and will also gain some experience in fatigue management working with patients experiencing Long Covid symptoms. You will be supported in your role by other members of the CFS multi-disciplinary team and the Therapy team.

For questions about the job, contact:

Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner

 

[bobbler]

The CFS Clinic and Service pages read better than the CFS title might lead you to expect.

The Hospital webpage says this of Professor Vinod Patel



And Warwick University says this of him

I'm quite curious as to whether there is some sort of 'split'/different voices between the medical side and the 'clinic/therapy' side being in charge on the 'treatment' ie once diagnosed then the biomed side doesn't get much of a say or contact - as we'd be looking for from a scientific perspective where staff could be learning from seeing patients longitudinally (and the results of 'therapies' if they made people worse etc) and would be able to have a say or get clues as to what might work as treatments etc.