World Patient Safety Day: M.E Care Is Failing WHO And NHS Safety Standards

(MENAFN- Pressat) UK social enterprise ME Foggy Dog is marking World Patient Safety Day 2026 by calling for urgent improvements to the safety and quality of care provided to people living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E). This year's World Health Organization theme, Safe Care for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), highlights the global need for safer, more coordinated care for long‐term conditions. M.E is a noncommunicable disease, yet M.E patients across the UK continue to experience unsafe, fragmented, and harmful care.

Noncommunicable diseases account for the majority of global illness, disability, and premature mortality. People living with M.E face many of the same challenges as other NCD groups: long‐term symptoms, complex care needs, multiple healthcare interactions, and significant risk of harm when care is poorly coordinated. Despite this, M.E remains overlooked in NHS planning and patient safety strategies.

ME Foggy Dog's ongoing NHS protocol and NHS Charter work has identified widespread breaches in M.E care, including delayed diagnosis, harmful management advice, lack of specialist pathways, exclusion of patients and their families in decision-making, and poor communication. These NHS failures represent serious patient safety risks and violate the NHS Charter rights to safe, effective, timely, and respectful care.

“Unsafe M.E care is avoidable harm,” said Sally Callow, founder of ME Foggy Dog.“M.E patients deserve the same safety protections as every other NCD group. The NHS already has the tools and standards required to deliver safe M.E care, what's missing is implementation.”

ME Foggy Dog is calling for the adoption of M.E‐specific NHS safety protocols, implementation of M.E. Foggy Dog's M.E. Friendly Hospital Charter in the NHS across all nations of the UK, mandatory M.E training for clinicians, national M.E care standards aligned with the NHS Charter, recognition of M.E as an NCD within patient safety frameworks, and meaningful involvement of people with M.E and families in care design.

As the world reflects on patient safety challenges, ME Foggy Dog urges the NHS to act now to prevent further avoidable harm and ensure that people with M.E receive the safe, person‐centred care they are entitled to.

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