The draft Quality Standard for Lyme disease has been issued for consultation. The aim of the Quality Standard is to raise standards by emphasising some key points with health professionals:
- Treat a Lyme disease rash without a blood test because the test may be negative at this stage.
- If a rash has not been seen and a test at the beginning of the illness is negative, don’t assume this is not Lyme disease – do another test later having given antibodies a chance to develop.
- Treat correctly according to the NICE guideline – don’t assume you know what dose of antibiotic to use, as higher doses are recommended in the Guideline.
- Raise public awareness to prevent people catching Lyme disease.
LDA hopes that this Quality Standard will raise awareness amongst doctors that they should refer to the NICE guideline, not assume that what they thought in the past is still correct.
LDA will be responding to the consultation. Do you think these are the key areas for improvement? If you have any comments, contact us via our Nice email address.