Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to the ketogenic diet for children with epilepsy in line with NICE guidelines.

A ketogenic diet (high in fat and low in carbohydrates) may reduce seizures for some children whose epilepsy cannot be successfully managed with drugs. Information for the public on the use of ketogenic diets in the treatment of epilepsy is available on the NHS Choices is website and is also provided by Epilepsy Action and the Epilepsy Society, the two leading charities for the condition in England. Information provided via NHS Choices can be found at the following link:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Epilepsy/Pages/Treatment.aspx

In January 2012 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its clinical guideline The diagnosis and management of the epilepsies in adults and children in primary and secondary care, which sets out best practice for clinicians in the treatment of children with epilepsy. The update included a new recommendation that children and young people with epilepsy whose seizures have not responded to anti-epileptic drugs should be referred to an epilepsy specialist to consider treatment with a ketogenic diet. The decision to refer patients for consideration is a clinical matter. The NICE guidance can be found at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg137/resources/epilepsies-diagnosis-and-management-35109515407813

Information regarding the average waiting time for children seeking access to assessment for a ketogenic diet for the treatment of epilepsy is not collected.