Care of epilepsy sufferers is a national scandal, says MPs

An inquiry has found that more than 400 people are dying needlessly every year because of inadequate epilepsy treatment. Nearly 70,000 patients are condemned to repeated seizures because they do not get the drugs they need, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Epilepsy said.

In a searing indictment of the medical care of Britain's 382,000 epileptics, published yesterday, the group demanded clear targets for care and called for more staff and resources.

It said the situation was a "national scandal". At least 74,000 patients were taking drugs they did not need and the cost of misdiagnosis was £189m a year.

Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder, affecting one in 131 people in Britain. Sufferers experience seizures when nerve cells in the brain become overactive, creating an electrical storm.

About half of patients are seizure-free, but the parliamentary group says that the proportion could be increased to 70 per cent with proper treatment.

The inquiry board included the Conservative leader David Cameron and was supported by the Joint Epilepsy Council, which represents 21 organisations. Its report, Wasted Money, Wasted Lives, found a serious shortage of specialists, equipment, and staff trained to use it. It said services had not improved despite five government reports.

Undiagnosed sufferers and those whose seizures were not well controlled were at particular risk of sudden unexpected death, responsible for two thirds of all epilepsy deaths, but awareness of the risks was low, the report said.

The Department of Health said it would study the report carefully. It said it had commissioned the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to produce guidelines for the treatment of epilepsy in 2004.

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