“This house believes that only general practitioners with a specialist interest in epilepsy should be treating the condition”
- General Practitioner with a Special Interest in Epilepsy, Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust, UK, Bethesda Medical Centre, Palm Bay Avenue, Kent CT9 3NR, UK ; gregrogers@btopenworld.com
This motion was debated at the recent UK International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) National Conference. The final vote rejected the motion, but maybe just on a technicality. However I could be biased! So why mention this in an editorial? The reason is that if the ILAE decided the debate was worth having at all, then the best model for managing people with epilepsy merits further consideration.
Epilepsy has been a neglected area in medicine, and in some situations more of the same to improve the care of people with epilepsy is what is needed—more neurologists (certainly in the UK), more epilepsy nurse specialists, and more epilepsy centres. However lessons can be learnt from colleagues around the world, such as in India, where new methods of delivering care include enhanced community care.1
Seizure freedom for the UK population of people with epilepsy has been estimated at approximately 50%. However, the smaller group of people who have been identified as needing help …
