Lyme Disease Diagnosis And Treatment

EDM number 510 in 2016-17, proposed by Timothy Farron on 11/10/2016.
Categorised under the topics of Diseases and Health services.

That this House recognises that tick-borne infection is one of the fastest growing types of disease in the western world; acknowledges the low standard of care that is being provided to sufferers of Lyme disease in the UK; understands that death may be caused by complications associated with the disease; notes the inadequate training given to GPs, and the use of inaccurate and unreliable tests for the detection of Lyme disease in the UK, results in the misdiagnosis of many patients; is aware that patients are often forced to go abroad in search of suitable treatment; further recognises that Lyme bugs can survive the storage conditions of donated blood; calls for steps to be taken to help doctors become more aware of the symptoms of Lyme disease early on, including mandatory online courses such as the Royal College of General Practitioners' online awareness module on the disease; further calls for a system to be developed which can give accurate data on the percentage of doctors who take such online training; and urges the Government to consider plans to introduce screening for Lyme bugs in donated blood.

This motion has been signed by a total of 22 MPs.