Epilepsy: Research
(asked on 17th December 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of epilepsy to (a) the NHS and (b) the wider economy; and how this estimate informs decisions on funding for epilepsy research.
While the Government has not made a formal estimate of the cost of epilepsy to the National Health Service and the wider economy, we are aware of a report published by Economist Impact in February 2024, titled, The value of action: mitigating the impact of neurological disorders in the United Kingdom, which estimated that idiopathic epilepsy cost the economy £1.7 billion or 0.07% of gross domestic product in 2019. This report is available at the following link:
The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR invested £12.8 million in direct research funding on epilepsy.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including epilepsy. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on epilepsy to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.