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Motionas and Debates

Motion - 13 March 2008

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S3M-01567 Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): A Call for Better Epilepsy Care

That the Parliament welcomes the forthcoming More specialist nurses, better epilepsy care campaign being run by Epilepsy Scotland for National Epilepsy Week 2008; commends the outstanding support that Epilepsy Scotland gives to the estimated 40,000 people in Scotland with this condition; acknowledges the valuable contribution specialist epilepsy nurses make to patient-centred treatment and epilepsy management; recognises the cost savings that these nurse posts make by reducing hospital stays, decreasing consultants’ workload and uncovering misdiagnosis and overtreatment; encourages NHS Scotland to address the shortfall in posts which means access to an epilepsy specialist nurse is a postcode lottery; notes that five NHS boards are without either paediatric, adult or learning disability nurses; believes that funding should be provided for additional epilepsy specialist nurses; advises that the recommendation of the Joint Epilepsy Council of the UK and Ireland for one specialist nurse for adult, paediatric and learning disability, per 100,000 of the population be followed in Scotland; acknowledges that resources for medical and administrative support must be available for specialist nurses to allow them to work effectively; suggests that increased specialist nurse provision will contribute towards related HEAT targets for an improved healthcare experience and rates of attendance at accident and emergency departments, and believes that the requests in this motion relate directly to plans contained in the Scottish Government's Better Health, Better Care strategy for a healthier Scotland, launched on 12 December 2007.

Supported by:

Christine Grahame, Jackson Carlaw, Mary Mulligan, Alex Neil, Hugh Henry, Jim Hume, Trish Godman, Alison McInnes, Mike Pringle, Robert Brown, Jackie Baillie, Liam McArthur, Ross Finnie, Robin Harper, Nanette Milne, Karen Whitefield, George Foulkes, Elaine Smith, Dr Bill Wilson, Jamie Hepburn, Dr Alasdair Allan, Cathy Peattie, Jim Tolson, Ken Macintosh, Des McNulty, Aileen Campbell, John Scott, Dr Richard Simpson, Jamie Stone, Lewis Macdonald, Johann Lamont, Mary Scanlon

Lodged on Thursday, March 13, 2008; Current