Epilepsy in England: time for change

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The launch in the House of Commons was a tremendous success, and raised the profile of epilepsy amongst members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Around 30 MPs and several members of the House of Lords attended, far more than we'd dared hope for.   Five members of the Health Select Committee – as far as health is concerned, the most important committee in parliament - came to the launch, and all of them signed our early day motion which, as of today, has had 21 MPs sign it.

There were some great speeches including one from our new president, Baroness Ford of Cunninghame, who spoke with great passion about the need for improving health services for people with epilepsy.  Another was by Tristan Woolf, one of our case studies who hit the mark perfectly with his story of the delays and frustrations he experienced in getting his epilepsy diagnosed, treated and ultimately cured by surgery.

The great work put in by our press and PR team has resulted in coverage in this morning's edition of The Sun.  Plus in recent days it's been in The Sunday Telegraph, quite a few local and regional newspapers and a number of radio stations.

What you can do now?

We would really value your help in encouraging the government and health trusts to make the necessary changes to help improve services for people with epilepsy. The more people who are involved in the campaign the better.

We'd like you to contact your local primary care trust (PCT) and acute trust, and write to your MP and ask them to sign the Early Day Motion.

Full details of how to do that can be found on our 'Epilepsy in England: time for change' page.

Thanks,
Mark @ Epilepsy Action