A YORK mother has welcomed the chief medical officer's admission that ME should be recognised and treated as a clinical condition - though it has come too late to save her daughter.

Sheila Barry lost her 27-year-old daughter Carli last year. She committed suicide after suffering depression because of her ten-year battle with ME.

Although she welcomes the change of policy from chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson, which follows two years of consultation with organisations including Action For ME, and is perhaps the most important development in recent years in relation to the condition, it is too late for Carli.

Mrs Barry said: "The realisation that had this report been published a year ago, Carli, who never complained of her constant pain, may well have been alive today, is hard to bear.

"The official recognition, at long last, of ME and the promise of future support may have given her the strength to carry on. She was exhausted by her battle for survival and could see no future.

"I feel that the only way it is possible for myself, her father, Geoff, and her partner, Danny, to cope with the tragic events of last year is to hope that in some way her death, by choice, at such a young age has helped to provide recognition that ME is a cruel and devastating illness that offers little hope to sufferers.

"If in some small way this has been achieved, and no other family will ever suffer the agony that we have experienced, we will not feel that she has died in vain. The Government must put money into research until the cause is found."

The report says the illness should be "managed clinically like any other chronic illness.

"That is, it can be managed by drawing on evidence and knowledge of what works best for a particular group of patients, and by using the usual generic clinical skills for assessment, therapy and care, adapted to the particulars of the condition and of the individual patient.

"There is much to do. This report may act as a means of assisting health care professionals and public and private services to begin that process."

Another ME sufferer, Jenny Gilmore, 37, of Fulford, said: "I was ill for more than ten months before the severe fatigue and other awful and very disabling symptoms caused by glandular fever were diagnosed as ME. My GP was very helpful, but there seemed to be nowhere that he could refer me to in the NHS.

"Now, nearly ten years on, there is still a great need to develop service provision. I hope the report will help improve diagnosis, treatment and care for local people."

Updated: 11:59 Monday, January 14, 2002