In a Westminster Hall debate on ME treatment and research on 21 June 2018, Sir Henry Bellingham, MP for North West Norfolk, called for government support for the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) and Dr. David Drew (Stroud) voiced their agreement, and Steve Brine, Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said it sounds very promising.

We’ve drafted a letter, which you are welcome to copy and paste or adapt to send your own MP to inform or update them on the progress of the Centre of Excellence and to ask them to support Sir Henry’s call on your behalf.

To find your MP’s contact details, put your postcode in the box on this page.

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Dear (MP name),

I write to request your support for the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence for ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), as highlighted by Sir Henry Bellingham during a Westminster Hall debate on ME treatment and research on 21 June 2018.

Two main points of note are that the research and treatment of ME is a cross-party matter of public health for people and public services in every constituency; and that the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence for ME is of national and international importance.

The proposal to establish a hub-and-spoke model UK Centre of Excellence for ME, based at Norwich Research Park with international cooperation, was published May 2010 by UK charity Invest in ME Research.

The work is now well underway, currently involving researchers based in Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, London, Surrey, and in collaboration with other countries.

As noted by Sir Henry Bellingham:

“That was funded by patients and carers, who raised a staggering £800,000 for what will be groundbreaking, world-class research.”

“Invest in ME Research has set up a centre of excellence for research in the Norwich Research Park, and it is planning to create a hub for European biomedical research, which is good news indeed. It already has five PhD students and is hoping to push out a consultant-led clinical service. Here we have the infrastructure and base for that extra Government funding, to build on the money that has been raised by patients and carers.”

“I hope the hon. Gentleman will support my campaign to get the Government to invest in the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence in Norwich. I did not mention that it has a really good chance of forging first-class links with not only European biomedical research institutes but institutes in the United States and Asia, where other groundbreaking research is being done. The Government should support and invest in success.”

Please read the June 2018 update on the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence, a bullet-point summary of the current status of this project, which has impressed USA’s NIH and is deserving of support by all UK political representatives and the relevant government departments: http://www.investinme.org/ce-cofeforme.shtml#exsu

The summary concludes on page 7:

“Invest in ME Research is therefore asking for support from MPs to engage actively with this project with a view to securing the final, and vital, elements of the UK Centre of Excellence for ME and create a future whereby people with ME may be given back their lives.”

The Let’s Do It for ME campaign aims to raise awareness of the Invest in ME Research Centre of Excellence for ME and a summary of the Westminster Hall debate with relevant extracts is here: https://ldifme.org/parliamentary-debate-on-me-research-and-treatment/

Thank you for reading and I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

(Your name and address)

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As stated in the letter, our summary of the debate is here and includes the extracts below. Hansard transcripts of the extracts.

Sir Henry Bellingham

Extract: https://goo.gl/yvW33P

Hansard Transcript: https://goo.gl/B8mDdw

Sir Edward Davey, Andrew Selous, Sir Henry Bellingham

Extract: https://goo.gl/XbwWZW

Hansard Transcript:https://goo.gl/QKQmav

Sir Henry Bellingham, Dr David Drew

Extract: https://goo.gl/gZSVRe

Hansard Transcript:https://goo.gl/NaUJrf

Steve Brine (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)

Hansard Transcript: https://goo.gl/VMT96v

Click here to read our full summary of the debate.

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