The roundtable will be an opportunity for all parties to discuss key issues raised prior to publication. The decision on next steps will be made by NICE, taking into account comments made at the roundtable. NICE will release the agenda ahead of the meeting and minutes will be published afterwards.
NICE has invited relevant professional organisations to attend the meeting, plus representatives from interested patient groups. Unfortunately there are too many patient groups to invite everyone, but we have aimed to ensure a full range of perspectives.
Professor Dame Carol Black has kindly agreed to act as an independent chair of the roundtable discussion. Dame Carole is an experienced chair who is independent of NICE and of the development of the ME/CFS guideline. She will facilitate the discussion and will not take part in NICE decisions.
Dr Paul Chrisp, director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE, said: “We acknowledge that patients will be concerned about these further developments in what has been a long and difficult guideline process. We hope that by holding a roundtable discussion we can understand the issues raised by the professional bodies to inform NICE’s thinking on the next steps for publication of the guideline.”