An NHS Highland service intended to support people with ME/CFS, long COVID and other post-infection conditions remains closed to new referrals, despite annual funding being allocated. A newly disclosed response shows the health board cannot yet provide a date for reopening referrals.
NHS Highland has confirmed that its specialist post-infection service is not accepting new referrals and that no opening date has been established, more than a year after the Scottish Government announced recurring national funding for people living with long COVID, ME/CFS and similar conditions.
The disclosure emerged in a Freedom of Information response dated 10 November 2026, obtained by the Scottish medical research charity ME Research UK.
The charity asked when NHS Highland’s planned service would begin accepting patients, how many referrals it had received, whether healthcare professionals had been informed about referral arrangements and how its £300,000 annual funding allocation had been used.
The health board confirmed that medical recruitment remains incomplete and that it does not hold a confirmed opening date.
It also stated that the service is not currently open to new referrals.
The disclosure raises questions about how quickly Scotland’s additional investment in post-infection healthcare is becoming accessible to patients, particularly those living in the Highlands and other communities served by NHS Highland.
Funding Allocated, but Recruitment Remains Incomplete
In September 2025, the Scottish Government announced £4.5 million in recurring annual funding for NHS boards to develop specialist services for people experiencing the long-term effects of COVID-19, ME/CFS and related conditions.
The funding was intended to support the recruitment of clinical staff and the development of sustainable treatment and referral pathways.
NHS Highland was allocated £300,000 annually towards its planned Post Infection Service, intended to cover long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome and other related illnesses.
However, in its response to ME Research UK, the health board said that recruitment to the necessary medical posts had not been completed.
It confirmed that the service remained closed to new referrals while that recruitment continued.
The response also disclosed that referral arrangements have been developed, with criteria agreed between general practitioners and secondary-care doctors.
The system is intended to use SCI Store, an NHS information repository allowing clinicians to access patient information securely.
Communications explaining the referral arrangements have been drafted but are being held until the service begins accepting patients.
This suggests that some of the administrative and clinical preparation has been completed, but the recruitment required to make the new pathway available remains outstanding.
The charity’s publication of the response on 11 November brings the issue into focus at a time when the Scottish Government is continuing to promote improvements in specialist support for people with complex long-term conditions.
What Has Happened to the £300,000?
The funding question is particularly important because the absence of new referrals does not necessarily mean the allocated money has remained unused.
NHS Highland told ME Research UK that the money had been ring-fenced for the service and that some expenditure had already taken place.
The board reported that additional clinical hours had been funded to reduce an existing patient backlog and support development work, including preparation of referral criteria and governance structures.
It also indicated that some funding was intended to provide additional clinical sessions when referrals reopened.
The response therefore establishes that money has been used for existing clinical activity and preparations for the new arrangements.
It does not provide a complete financial breakdown identifying exactly how much of the £300,000 has been spent, how much remains committed or what expenditure has been incurred under each heading.
Nor does it establish that the full allocation has been wasted or diverted.
The outstanding issue is whether the investment is producing timely access to specialist assessment and support for new patients.
That distinction matters for any assessment of the Scottish Government’s national funding programme. Allocating money, recruiting staff, establishing referral procedures and treating patients are separate stages of delivery.
The Highland disclosure demonstrates that progress in the first three stages does not automatically mean the fourth has begun.
Why Specialist Care Matters for ME/CFS
ME/CFS is a complex, potentially severely disabling illness affecting multiple body systems.
Symptoms can include profound fatigue, cognitive difficulties, unrefreshing sleep and post-exertional malaise, in which physical or mental activity causes a worsening of symptoms that can be delayed and prolonged.
The condition can substantially restrict employment, education, family life and ordinary daily activities.
Some people are able to maintain limited activity with adjustments and support. Others experience severe disability, and those most seriously affected may be largely confined to their homes or beds.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends specialist assessment and individual care planning for people diagnosed with ME/CFS.
Its guidance also cautions against approaches requiring patients to increase physical activity by fixed increments regardless of their symptoms.
This is particularly important because post-exertional deterioration can make conventional exercise-based rehabilitation unsuitable for some patients.
Long COVID can share symptoms with ME/CFS, including exhaustion, cognitive problems and limitations following activity, although the two diagnoses are not interchangeable.
A specialist service covering several post-infection conditions therefore needs sufficient expertise to recognise their differences and provide appropriate care.
The proposed NHS Highland service is intended to improve access to coordinated support rather than require patients to navigate multiple disconnected services.
For people already living with a long-term illness, uncertainty about when specialist referrals will become available can make it more difficult to obtain assessment, coordinated treatment and continuing support.
A Wider Question for Scotland’s NHS
The Highland disclosure has implications beyond one health board.
The Scottish Government’s £4.5 million annual programme was presented as recurring investment, intended to help NHS boards build services that could operate sustainably rather than depend on short-term funding.
However, recurring funding does not guarantee that the specialist workforce needed to deliver new services can be recruited immediately.
NHS Highland’s response identifies medical recruitment as the obstacle preventing the new referral pathway from opening.
This creates a practical question for the national programme: how will health boards be supported when the clinicians required to deliver specialist services cannot be recruited within the planned timetable?
There is also the issue of accountability for the funding itself.
NHS Highland has provided a general explanation of how money has been used, but the disclosed response does not offer a complete expenditure statement or a confirmed date when new patients will be accepted.
The charity’s questions highlight the need to distinguish between improvements for people already receiving care and the opening of new specialist pathways for patients who have not yet accessed a service.
Both can be legitimate uses of healthcare funding, but they produce different outcomes.
For patients awaiting assessment, the most immediate measure of progress will be whether their clinicians can refer them to the new service.
As of the health board’s response on 10 November, that remains unavailable.
The unresolved issue is not whether a service has been planned or funded, but when that investment will translate into accessible specialist care for new patients across the NHS Highland area.
Sources
NHS Highland — Progress Toward Specialist ME/CFS Service. ME Research UK, 11 November 2026. Includes extracts from NHS Highland’s Freedom of Information response FOI 300681, dated 10 November 2026.
https://www.meresearch.org.uk/nhs-highland-progress-toward-specialist-me-cfs-service/
Funding Long COVID Services. Scottish Government, 25 September 2025.
https://www.gov.scot/news/funding-long-covid-services/
Programme for Government 2026–2031: Delivering a Stronger NHS and Public Services. Scottish Government, 2026.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/programme-government-2026-2031/pages/5/
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Diagnosis and Management — NICE Guideline NG206. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 29 October 2021.
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206/chapter/recommendations
