Epilepsy

I understand that epilepsy is a serious condition which can have major implications for a person's quality of life. The Government wants our NHS to be among the best in Europe at supporting people with ongoing health problems such as epilepsy to live healthily and independently with much better control over the care they receive.

NHS England is responsible for securing high quality outcomes for people with long term conditions, including epilepsy. Prompt diagnosis, treatment and seizure control are key, and the majority of people with epilepsy can achieve good seizure control with the correct drugs. Guidelines published in 2012 by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that people having a first seizure should be seen as soon as possible by a specialist.

For those whose epilepsy cannot be satisfactorily controlled or appropriately diagnosed, NHS England commissions specialised neurological services nationally where patients have access to a specialist multidisciplinary team and expert treatments. 

NHS England has also a created a new national children's epilepsy surgery service to treat around 350 children each year and offers the chance of symptom improvement and even cure for children whose epilepsy cannot be well managed by routine treatments and for whom surgery is appropriate.

While there is no specific morbidity audit planned that covers all cases of epilepsy, there are several audits and reviews which are relevant. These include the audit for paediatric epilepsy and the National Mortality Case Record Review.

Finally, The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) invests over £1 billion a year in research, bringing benefits to patients with epilepsy and other conditions.  The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting patients to 27 epilepsy trials and studies.