ME sufferers in Worcestershire are having to wait years to be diagnosed with the condition when the national recommended time limit is just six months.

Government recommendations in 2002 set out that ME - a chronic illness that causes extreme exhaustion, pain, sleep disturbance and problems with memory and concentration - should be diagnosed within six months, and three months in children.

But a survey of 100 members of Worcestershire ME Support Group revealed that half had to wait more than a year to be diagnosed while a third waited more than three years.

It is estimated there are more than 2,000 people living with the condition in Worcestershire.

Now there are fears that the wait could be even longer when the county's only ME specialist leaves his post later this month for a new job in Liverpool.

Dr Alastair Miller, consultant in infectious diseases who has an interest in ME, currently receives referrals from across Worcestershire and Herefordshire and sees four to five new patients a week in a Kidderminster clinic.

Ian Logan, chairman of the Worcestershire ME Support Group, who himself waited five years to be diagnosed with ME, said GPs in the county are now struggling to find a specialist because at present they are unable to make a diagnosis themselves.

He wants to raise awareness of a new report - ME Diagnosis: Delay Harms Health - which has just been released for ME Awareness Week, and calls on doctors to speed up diagnosis.

He said: "Without appropriate medical advice in the crucial early stages of the illness many will lapse into severe and prolonged ill health.

"This report will hit home the message that an early diagnosis can make a very positive difference to people with ME."

"But with our ME specialist leaving there are fears this could get worse instead of better."

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said interviews for Dr Miller's replacement are being held at the beginning of June, and ME is included in the job description for the candidates.

"We also have a registrar in infectious diseases and other consultant physicians who can, and do, see ME patients," he added. Also, much of the care of ME patients is provided by occupational therapists in a multi-disciplinary team who will be continuing to provide this service."