Health experts and local authorities have agreed to meet sufferers of a debilitating illness amid concerns about delays in diagnosing the condition. Public health officials, NHS Kernow, and Jim McKenna, the health portfolio holder at Cornwall Council, have agreed to hold an urgent meeting with patients in South East Cornwall. The call for action was made at Cornall Council’s health and adult care overview and scrutiny committee in Truro last week, by Mebyon Kernow Cornwall Councillor Andrew Long, who represents Callington. He said: ‘For years, people have been suffering from Lyme Disease, which is a debilitating illness that can have serious consequences, but until the Health Service takes the fact that you can catch the disease here in the British Isles and arms doctors and surgeries with the information on what to do, we will struggle to get the upper hand on this entirely preventable illness.

Lyme disease can affect any part of the body. The commonest symptoms include feeling unwell, flu-like symptoms, extreme tiredness, muscle pain, muscle weakness, joint pain, upset digestive system, headache, disturbances of the central nervous system and a poor sleep pattern. In some cases an expanding ‘bull’s eye’ rash appears.

Residents can contact Lyme Disease Action at www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk