Action for ME



Action for ME, or AfME, is a controversial patient charity and is registered in England and Wales: 1036419 and registered in Scotland: SC040452.

Aims
The 2013 Action for ME Statement of Strategic Intent outlines three strategic touchstones for 2013-2016: Inform and Influence, Empower and Support, Research. Their priorities are: Awareness and understanding, health, welfare, research, employment.

Our vision, mission and values
 * Our vision is a world without M.E.
 * Our mission is empowering people with M.E. to fulfill their potential and secure the care and support they need, while working towards a greater understanding of the illness and ultimately a cure.
 * Shared values are held with high regard in our organisation and reflect how we seek to work with our supporters, partners and other key stakeholders. They reflect the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour that we value in each other and underpin our whole approach and culture.

History
The charity was set up in 1987 as The M.E. Action Campaign. Its founders were Martin Lev, Sue Findlay and Clare Francis. In September 1993 it changed its name and logo to Action for ME and Chronic Fatigue. It then changed its name in 1993 to Action for ME. .

It's previous Chief Executives were Chris Clark (to 2006) and Sir Peter Spencer (2006-2012). Sonya Chowdhury took over as Chief Executive of Action for M.E. in September 2012.

In April 2017 it merged with Association of Young People with ME.

AfME has for years provided the joint secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on ME in the UK Westminster Parliament.

Notable people

 * Sonya Chowdhury (Chief Executive)
 * Julia Newton (Joint Medical Advisor)
 * Gregor Purdie (Joint Medical Advisor)


 * David Puttnam
 * Clare Francis (President)

Funding
Action for M.E. has received UK government Department of Health (DoH) funding. It also receives funding  from the Scottish Government. AFME now claims it receives no government funding. It states it support also comes from public and corporate donations.

AfME has not been transparent about its funding. It has resulted in questions even being asked in Parliament about some of its funding from the UK government. The Countess of Mar asked:

“How much funding has been awarded by the Department of Health under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to the United Kingdom charity Action for ME since April 2003; for what purpose the award was made; and what were the terms under which it was made; and Whether any funding has been awarded by the Department of Health under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to any charities representing those with myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome other than Action for ME since April 2003; if so, how much was awarded; to which charities; and for which purpose.”

Lord Warner (Health) responded ''“In February 2003, Action for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) was awarded a grant of £187,000 over a three-year period to support its chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) clinical network project. The project is intended to help all those in the field to access knowledge and share best practice on meeting the needs of patients. The Association for Youth with ME was awarded a grant in 2002 of £110,000 over a three-year period in respect of its positive living project. This involves developing a training and information programme to empower children and young people via skills workshops to voice their experience, knowledge and needs of living with CFS/ME. All voluntary organisations awarded Section 64 grants provide regular progress reports showing how they meet the objectives laid down by the grant conditions.”'' .

This funding was provided around the time inception of the BPS and PACE trial in the UK. AfME later merged with AFYME.

Controversy and conflicts of interest
In September 1993 it changed its name and logo to "Action for ME and Chronic Fatigue". Complaints were made to the Charity Commission, as CF is a symptom and distinct from ME and CFS, and the charity subsequently dropped Chronic Fatigue.

Some informed ME advocates have stated there are many reasons to not support AfME including an article detailing numerous reasons not to support AfME . Some other ME charities have refused to work with AfME.

In a 2004 House of Lords debate Action for ME's involvement with Professor Simon Wessely was criticised as it was now supporting the Wessely CBT/GET management programme and actively involved in the development of the new CBT/GET treatment centres.

In 2013 AfME relaunched its research strategy with ‘Action for M.E. – Placing Patient Views at the Heart of a New Research Strategy’. Its Chief Executive answered questions about the new strategy and also about the commitment to greater patient involvement on the forum Phoenix Rising. There were many questions put by ME patients and some answered but also many questions remained unanswered about the PACE trial including by Robert Courtney.

Action For ME had previously funded the research of Esther Crawley until alternative funding from elsewhere replaced theirs.

AfME continue to fund the research of Peter White

AfME have had close links with the insurance industry and psychiatrists who work with the insurance industry and the Department for Work and Pensions. AfME's chairman, Alan Cook, was a chairman of an insurance company.

Michael Sharpe has said "one of the major patient charities (Action for ME) is aligning itself with a more evidence-based approach" in the Unum report of 2002. .

AfME also supported the controversial CFS/ME NICE guidelines in 2007  which were opposed by all other patient groups and charities and did not support the judicial review against them.

Action For ME did not sign the open letter to Psychological Medicine signed by over 100 signatories including scientists and charities. Numerous patients requested and pursued AfME to sign an open letter to Psychological Medicine in March but after two month delay they issued their statement in May. AfME recently published its response patient concerns regarding the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) and the PACE trial for patients and their failure to sign to the open letter to Psychological Medicine. All major charities from around the world signed with the notable exception of AfME.

Despite repeated requests AfME have still not made a statement about a talk that Esther Crawley, who is closely associated with the charity  and receives funding from AfME, presented at a renal conference that maligned patients and accused David Tuller of libel.

AfME did not support or promote the Millions Missing campaign in 2017 and used alternatives but Sonya Chowdhury used the hashtag #MillionsMissing for fundraising for herself and AfME.

AfME have obtained money from  private corporate donors and used this anonymous corporate donation to fund the work of the controversial researcher Esther Crawley and her Severe Pediatric Study via the charity. This was questioned and criticized by ME sufferers in forums but AFME removed many posts as they claimed they were defamatory for asking such questions and stated it was from "private corporate donor with a specific interest in seeing the alleviation of childhood suffering". In 2018 it was announced that AfME would be returning the money but did not provide a full explanation of the sources of the money and the reasons for doing so.

AfME have created and organised the "M.E./CFS International Alliance", a group involving M.E. advocates and charity representatives from six countries. However some organisations stated they weren't aware of their membership and ME patients have expressed concerns due to its history. AfME have been protesting at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, under the Millions Missing campaign however patients have expressed concerns due to the WHO accepting ME as a neurological disease since 1969.

Involvement in PACE trial controversy
AfME were involved from the beginning by supporting the PACE trial and its researchers from 2003. AfME do not refer to their involvement with the PACE trial now. However archives are available of their involvement as their website pages of this involvement have been deleted. The PACE trial would not have been funded or conducted without patient support, which AFME provided.


 * "Despite the anger in the patient community, the investigators were able to enlist Action For ME, another major advocacy group, to help design the pacing intervention. They called their operationalization of the strategy “adaptive pacing therapy,” or APT."


 * The Oxford criteria was used for PACE trial participation. The PACE trial was designed with input from the charity, Action for ME.


 * "From the outset, Action for M.E. and a number of patients were involved in the design of the trial."


 * "The major innovations in this application include close collaboration with Action for ME."

Action for ME have provided the requisite 'patient support' regularly cited by the PACE trial authors and collaborators since its inception in 2005 and had refused to  support many patients exposing the flaws in the trial for years or criticise the flaws in the trial. It had ignored these flaws for years despite ME sufferers pointing these out and working for years to expose the trial. AfME's public positions on the trial began shifting after patients and other scientists had finally discredited the trial.

Dr David Tuller publicly suggested in a forum on June 18th that he would also write about AfME when he has time and is able to and stated  AfME have made no apology for enabling and abetting PACE and that AfME really should take responsibility for that at this stage. . After years of AfME refusing to support patients and scientists pointing out the flaws, AfME then unprompted asked to sign Dr Tuller's letter on June 20th and join every other patient group and charity. This remarkable change of position was also in the lead up to (on the day before) Carol Monaghan MP's second parliamentary debate on June 21st who had also severely criticised and campaigned against the PACE trial.

After noting that on Aug 21, 2018, The Times ran an article about open letter to the Lancet which more than a hundred academics, ten MPs, and patient groups from around the world signed on August 29, 2018, Action for ME posted a statement on their new position on the PACE trial and behavioral treatments for M.E..

Membership
Unlike most charities and many ME charities, AFME does not allow its paying members to become legal members of the charity and therefore have no input into the direction of the charity and voting rights. It only recognizes its own trustees as members.

Trustees
Board of Trustees

Online presence

 * Website
 * Twitter
 * Facebook
 * YouTube

Charities commission and financial details
1036419 - ACTION FOR ME

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Action for ME