Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve public (a) awareness and (b) education on (i) epilepsy and (ii) Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on epilepsy recommends that clinicians should discuss the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) with patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy, and ensure their understanding of the risk, which will raise awareness of the issue among patients and their families.

Additionally, the Royal College of General Practitioners aims to raise awareness of SUDEP amongst GPs and other primary care professionals, through its e-learning modules on SUDEP and seizure safety, which were developed in collaboration with SUDEP Action and last updated in December 2024.

Health Education England, now part of NHS England, has also developed an Epilepsy Programme in collaboration with SUDEP Action, which is designed to enable healthcare professionals, particularly those who are not specialists in epilepsy, to better understand SUDEP and how the risk of SUDEP can be reduced.