Not a single bed set aside to treat ME in any UK hospital, says NHS director

Maeve Boothby O’Neill, who died at the age of 27, was admitted to hospital three times in the year before her death. Photograph: Family handout

A senior NHS professional has told a coroner that there is not a single bed anywhere in the country set aside specifically for the treatment of a patient with severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

Dr Anthony Hemsley was addressing a special hearing in Exeter after the inquest this summer into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill who died in October 2021 at her home in Exeter, at the age of 27, after living with the debilitating disease, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, for more than a decade.