ANALYSIS OF 1998 MEMBERS' QUESTIONNAIRE

107 Members returned their questionnaires.
Some of them did not answer all of the questions.


PERSONAL DETAILS
Age (106 members replied)
	Under 13	0%
	13 to 18	3.8%
	18 to 25	0.9%
	26 to 39	24.6%
	40 to 60	66.0%
	Over 60	4.7%
Sex
	Male	21.5%
	Female	78.5%
Marital status (104 replied)
	Single or divorced	41.3%
	Married or partner	58.7%
1. Dependants - 18.5% of members have dependants of which the number of dependants are:-
	1	45%
	2	40%
	3	15 %
	Of these dependants 79.4% are 16 or under and 20.6% are over 16.
2. Do you have a carer?
	Yes	53.3%
	No	46.7%
3. Of those who have carers, how often is care given?
	Full time	38.2%
	Part time	32.7%
	Occasional	29.1%
4. Who is your carer?
	Partner	67.9%	Parent	19.6%
	Child	7.1%	Friend	5.4%
5. Age of carers
	One of the carers was in the age group 13 to 18 and fourteen of the carers were over 60.
6. Do you have a home help? (106 replied)
	Yes	13.2%	No	86.8%
7. Have you ever asked Social Services for a home help and been refused? (103 replied)
	Yes	12.6%	No	87.4%
8. Do you have a Private Cleaner? (103 replied)
	Yes	22.3%	No	77.7%

HISTORY OF ILLNESS
1. Degree of illness (97 replied)
	Bedbound	7.2%
	Housebound	19.6%
	Unable to work and need help to manage	49.5%
	Managing to work part time etc.	23.7%
2. Length of illness:
	Up to 1 year	0.9%
	1 up to 2 years	4.7%
	2 up to 3 years	13.1%
	3 up to 5 years	21.5%
	5 to 10 years	38.3%
	Over 10 years	21.5%
3. Length of illness before diagnosis (103 replied)
	Up to 6 months	26.2%
	6 months up to 1 year	22.3%
	1 up to 2 years	22.3%
	Over 2 years	29.2%
4. Have you been diagnosed?
	Yes	96.3%
	No	3.7%
5. Can you identify any factor which precipitated the illness?
In some cases more than one factor was indicated. The factors were:-
	Accident	4.7%
	Virus	63.6%
	Stress	21.5%
	Operation	5.6%
	Inoculation	10.3%
	Antibiotics	17.8%
6. Who diagnosed you?
Some people had been diagnosed by more than one person:-
	GP	39.3%
	Consultant	67.3%
	Other	5.6%
7. About your GP (105 replied)
a) Is your GP helpful?
	Yes	48.6%
	Fairly	37.1%
	No	14.3%
b) Does your GP believe in M.E. as a physical illness?
	Yes	54.3%
	No	5.7%2
	Do not know	40.0%
c) Is your GP knowledgeable about M.E.?
	Yes	19.0%
	Fairly	41.9%
	No	17.2%
	Do not know	21.9%
8. About your Consultant (80 replied)
a) Is your Consultant helpful?
	Yes	58.2%
	Fairly	26.6%
	No	15.2%
b) Does your Consultant believe in M.E. as a physical illness?
	Yes	73.8%
	No	5.0%
	Do not know	21.2%
c) Is your Consultant knowledgeable about M.E.?
	Yes	65.0%
	Fairly	13.7%
	No	6.3%
	Do not know	15.0%
9. Clinics
a) Have you attended the Fatigue clinic at Seacroft/St James's?
	Yes	47.7%
	No	52.3%
b) Have you been referred to a psychiatrist regarding your M.E.? (106 replied)
	Yes	60.4%
	No	39.6%
10. What treatments and therapies have you found helpful? (In some cases more than one therapy was found to be helpful)
	Vitamin & Mineral Supplements	15.0%	Rest/relaxation	6.5%
	Anti Candida diet/diet	9.3%	Homoeopathy	10.3%
	Acupuncture	18.7%	Reiki/Spiritual Healing	7.5%
	Hypnotherapy	0.9%	Aromatherapy	6.5%
	Osteopathy	6.5%	Meditation	3.7%
	Chiropractor	0.9%	Reflexology	2.8%
	Antidepressants	11.2%	Nutritionist	3.7%
	Herbalist/herbal medicine	3.7%	Alexander Technique	3.7%

EMPLOYMENT/STUDY
1. Are you able to work or study?
	Full time	2.8%
	Part time	29.9%
	Not working or studying	67.3%
2. Have you had to give up studying due to your illness? (96 replied)
	Yes	26.0%
	No	8.3%
	Not applicable	65.7%
3. Was your school/college helpful? (30 replied)
	Yes	63.3%
	Fairly	16.7%
	No	20.0%
4 Have you had to give up working due to your illness? (98 replied)
	Yes	81.6%
	No	5.1%
	Not applicable	13.3%
6. Was your employer helpful? (81 replied)
	Yes	44.4%
	Fairly	23.5%
	No	32.1%
5. What was your job before becoming ill? and 7. If you are working now what is your job? (96 replied to both these questions)
	Occupation	Previous	Present
	Nationalised Industry	4.2%
	None	2.1%	86.6%
	Agriculture	1.0%
	NHS/Nurse	16.8%
	Local Authority	4.2%	1.0%
	Teacher/Lecturer	18.8%	2.1%
	Student	6.2%	1.0%
	Catering	1.0%
	Police Officer	2.1%
	University Employee	1.0%
	Computer services	3.1%	1.0%
	Financial Services	6.2%	2.1%
	Clerical/Administration	6.2%	1.0%
	Retail Services	4.2%
	Architect/Engineer/Surveyor	4.2%
	Self-employed	7.3%	2.1%
	Social Services	5.2%	1.0%
	Unclassified	6.2%	2.1%
8. If you lost your job due to ill-health did you get a work's pension? (63 replied)
	Yes	47.6%
	No	52.4%
a) If yes: (30 received a work's pension)
	Got it with no problem	76.7%
	Had to fight for it	23.3%
b) If no: (only 54.5% of the members who said they did not receive a works pension answered this part)
	Had not worked long enough to be entitled to a pension.		61.1%
	Still fighting for their work's pension.		38.9%

SICKNESS BENEFIT
1. Are you on benefit? (104 replied)
	Yes	76.9%
	No	23.1%
2. Which ones? - Some members are in receipt of more than one benefit. Of the 80 who said they were on benefit:-
	Incapacity Benefit (ICB)	77.5%
	Disability Living Allowance (DLA)	38.8%
	Other allowances	11.3%
3. How long have you been on benefit? (74 replied)
	Up to 1 year	6.8%
	1 to 3 years	21.6%
	Over 3 and up to 5 years	31.1%
	Over 5 years	40.5%
4. How many times have you had to fill in an all works test form (IBSO) ? (77 replied)
	Never	16.9%
	1 time	24.7%
	2 times	36.3%
	3 times	15.6%
	4 times	3.9%
	More than 4 times	2.6%
5. How many times have you had to see a DSS doctor? (81 replied)
	Never	3.7%
	1 time	37.0%
	2 times	22.2%
	3 times	18.6%
	4 times	7.4%
	More than 4 times	11.1%
6. Have you ever been refused benefit? (91 replied)
	Yes	64.8%
	No	35.2 %
a) Type of benefit refused; in some cases more than one benefit has been refused (59 members replied)
	ICB	32.2%
	DLA	62.7%
	Other benefits	13.5%
b) Did you appeal? (of those who have been refused benefit)
	Yes	81.0%
	No	19.0%
c) Was the appeal successful?
	Of the 41 who appealed and have heard the result 68.3% were successful and 31.7% were not.