Research
Membership Survey
Thank you to everyone who filled in and returned their membership survey. Music therapist Aileen McGinty from Inverness was the lucky winner of the prize draw. She received Marks and Spencer vouchers worth £20.
A report on the main findings from the survey is being put together by our student volunteer Rotimi Ojo. This will be published in the next issue of 'Epilepsy News.'
Epilepsy Review Survey
GP practices are now being encouraged to invite people with epilepsy for an annual review. We recently contacted some people known to the organisation to find out more about their experiences of epilepsy reviews. Not everyone we spoke to had been invited for a review but the majority of people felt it was beneficial for them and important that it continued on a yearly basis.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of epilepsy reviews please call our helpline on 0808 800 2 200.
If you have epilepsy and have not been called for a review you can request one from your GP or practice nurse.
Paediatric Report
In May 2002 a paediatric report was published by Epilepsy Scotland which looked at health care provision for children with epilepsy in Scotland. The idea was to identify paediatric epilepsy service provision across Scotland which would then help make recommendations for developing paediatric epilepsy services.
It was found that children with epilepsy and suspected epilepsy receive varying levels of service depending in which NHS board area they live. There are too few epilepsy specialists in Scotland, so many children are denied expert treatment. NHS boards are unable to plan or share good practice effectively. The report recommended long-term investment in training and staffing. Service re-design should be undertaken to maximise existing resources. Good practice should be shared more widely. Better use should be made of the voluntary epilepsy sector.