Epilepsy: Medical Treatments

(asked on 15th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with epilepsy are able to access the treatments they require through the NHS.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 6th January 2021

To ensure that people with neurological conditions such as epilepsy are able to access the treatments they require during the COVID-19 pandemic, providers have been rolling out remote consultations using video, telephone, email and text message services as a priority.

The Association of British Neurologists published guidance on 20 May 2020 on neurology services in the recovery phase of the pandemic, assessing which services and patients require urgent prioritisation which is available at the following link:

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.theabn.org/resource/collection/65C334C7-30FA-45DB-93AA-74B3A3A20293/20.05.20_ABN_Restarting_Neurology_Services_post_COVID_v1.pdf

NHS England and NHS Improvement have also provided prioritisation advice for community services, published on 19 March 2020 and updated on 8 December 2020, which aims to meet the needs of people with neurological conditions safely and effectively. This guidance is available at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/

Reticulating Splines