The Bury/Bolton ME/CFS Support Group is aimed at supporting ME/CFS sufferers and their carers. There are an estimated 680 sufferers in Bolton and 460 in Bury, according to Action for ME national figures.  

If you wish to become a member of the group, please print off this form (PDF file) , or this form (Word doc) with your donation and send to the address at the bottom.

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Our main meetings are held at: Longsight Methodist Church Hall, Longsight Lane, Harwood, Bolton, BL2 3HX
on the third Thursday of every month except April, August and December.

Carers are more than welcome too!

The church has a well-sized car park and the ramps at the entrance provide good wheelchair access. The entrance fee is £1 (to pay to rent the church for the evening.) Refreshments are provided, with gluten/dairy free, etc catered for as well.

Next Longsight meetings:

Thursday 21st June 2012 7:30pm Philippa O'Callaghan from the Red Cross will talk about their equipment loan service and a carers' care scheme which is running in Bury.

Thursday 19th July 2012 7:30pm Social

THERE IS NO MEETING IN AUGUST

Please see the "Future Meetings" page for directions.

Radcliffe Socials:
Our Social Group meets informally on the first Monday of each month, at 4pm, at The Sparking Clog, Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe, M26 3WY. It has plenty of parking, good accessibility, comfortable seating, is relatively quiet and serves very tempting chips that we just can’t resist. For anyone who does fancy a snack, these start at just £1.50, with main courses from £3.50.



There is a new Pennine Rheumatology Centre open in Rochdale. For more info, email joanne.maclean@nhs.net, at PALS, phone 0161 762 3099,. or click here for more info

Bury/Bolton ME/CFS Service Update September 2011:

At our recent meeting with our ME/CFS Clinic team we were reassured that, despite the changes that have been happening, they are committed to giving us an excellent service, as usual. Dr. Gaber has been doing more sessions and will continue to do so whilst the other 3 therapists will still be running their usual sessions. New patients need to be referred to the Service by their G.P.

Existing patients, if they are encountering problems, may self refer back to the service by phoning the Clinic, for up to 12 months after their course of therapy has been completed. After that time they may be re-referred by contacting their G.P. This applies to both Bolton and Bury patients. At present all patients are seen at the Bolton Breightmet Clinic, except for extremely severe cases, where home visits may be arranged.

February 2011 Clinic Update:

Today I have attended the 6 monthly Service Development meeting. As usual it was a very constructive meeting. I can report that during the current absence from the Service of Dr Wright his clinical role is being undertaken by Dr Gaber, who is a Nero Rehabilitation Consultant and the clinical lead of the Ashton, Leigh and Wigan ME/CFS Service.

Dr Gaber has been closely involved with our service from the beginning and some of you may have met him when the team have come to our Support Group Meetings. All new referrals from GPs will be looked at by Dr Gaber and the initial consultation will either be with him or where the diagnosis is clear he will refer the patient directly to a member of the multi disciplinary team.

Dr Gaber has reviewed the medical notes of all the existing patients and these patients will continue to be seen by the appropriate member of the multi disciplinary team or discharged back to the care of their GP if appropriate. If any member of the team has any medical concerns about an existing patient this can easily be escalated to Dr Gaber for advice and if necessary intervention.

Current waiting times for the service are meeting the 4 weeks target and I am impressed with the ongoing commitment of the team during this difficult time. The Service will continue to run on this basis until such time as Dr Wright's position in the Service has been decided, although the timescale for this is still not known. Also remember, once you have been discharged from the Service if you need further advice or review you can always self refer back to the Service within 12 months of your discharge. After that you will need to be referred back to the Service through your GP.

Yvonne Leech

If you ask your doctor to refer you to the Bury or Bolton ME/CFS Clinics, please ask for a referral to:

CFS/ME Clinic
Breightmet Health Centre
Breightmet Fold Lane
Breightmet
Bolton
BL2 6NT

Telephone: 01204 462 765

The appointments are at Breightmet Health Centre in Bolton.

Membership Renewals:
Please note that to save on costs we will no longer be issuing membership cards. If anyone is not sure whether they have paid or not, you can email phil@mesupportgroup.co.uk.

Expert Patient Programme:
This is for people with long term neurological condition and aims to improve quality of life. The course is 6 weeks and lasts about 2 hours, with about 10 patients attending at a time. Topics covered include action plans, better breathing, dealing with difficult emotions, introducing exercise, pain and fatigue management, communication skills problem solving, depression management and working with your healthcare professional. At the meeting it was suggested that the course could be every fortnight instead of weekly to give patients more time to recover. Judith has now got permission to do fortnightly sessions, so anyone who wishes to attend, please call Pam on 01204 793 846.

Neuro Support 4 Salford Meeting:
This was set up by Greater Manchester Neurological Alliance to identify the people in Bury, patients and their carers, with long term neurological conditions, including ME. It will be used from time to time to seek the views of those people as to how service provision, medical and social, can be improved. GMNA, Innovation Forum, Frederick Road, Salford M6 6FP.
See http://www.gmneuro.org.uk/localgroups.asp, email gmneuro@tiscali.co.uk or phone 0161 743 3701

Bury Neuro Support:

• Bishop Ashton Room, Bury Parish Church Hall
• (Some parking available in Church grounds)
• With a guest speaker

What We Offer

What about our meetings?:

Our meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month from 7.30pm until 9pm-ish, except in April, August and December. The March meeting is our AGM and November is our bring and share buffet social.

These meetings are held at: Longsight Methodist Church Hall, Longsight Lane, Harwood, Bolton, BL2 3HX.
The church has a well-sized car park and the ramps at the entrance provide good wheelchair access.
The entrance fee is £1 (to pay to rent the church for the evening.) However, refreshments are provided (gluten/dairy free catered for).

Please try to avoid wearing strongly scented toiletries when you attend the meetings, as some members are very sensitive to these products.

Members are welcome to borrow our electric scooter or manual wheelchair (see "Contact Us" page).

The Newsletter:

The monthly newsletter is put together by members of the group and proves a great read! It includes future meeting dates, contact details of comittee members, recent press articles,findings from the latest ME/CFS studies, minutes from national ME/CFS conferences, book reviews,helpful hints for ME/CFS sufferers/carers and more.

Minutes of the last group meetings,recipes (including vegetarian ones and gluten free, dairy free, etc). Contact information for other ME/CFS groups (as seen on our "Helpful Contacts" page) is given on the back page. You can see previous articles on the "Newsletter Articles" page.


What we offer:

• A comfortable, warm and spacious meeting hall where members can mix and mingle.

• Regular meetings, 9 times a year on the third Thursday of the month, alternating between speakers and socials. Carers are very welcome too! There are no meetings in April, August or December. Speakers range from medical, welfare and other backgrounds. Our AGM is always in March and we have a bring and share pre Xmas social in November.

• Chat group
  
  
• Free yoga sessions, Tuesdays at 3:15pm-4:15pm at the Jubilee Centre, Bolton, Kindly funded by the Community Foundation for Greater Manchester/Red Nose Day.

• A monthly newsletter for members, MPs, Health Authorities and other bodies.

• A well-stocked library of books and CDs.

• Immediate access to research reports through the national ME/CFS charities' publications.

• Help and advice on benefits.

• Links with all other ME/CFS/CFS Groups in the North West through regional meetings and shared newsletter exchange. Growing links with other Groups in the UK.

  And much more! Come and visit us - or see our "Contact Us" page for further information!