Progress update – Early day motion 441

As of Wednesday 15 April, 142 Members of Parliament (MP) have signed the early day motion (EDM) supporting the Epilepsy in England: time for change report and calling for enforcement of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Guidelines (2004) for epilepsy.

The motion states,
“That this House notes the Epilepsy Action survey of January 2009; agrees that it is time for change for people with epilepsy; recognises that the majority of primary care trusts and acute trusts in England are failing to meet National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines of 2004 for adults and children with epilepsy; congratulates Epilepsy Action for highlighting these issues in its campaign Epilepsy in England: time for change; believes that all health commissioners should carry out a review of their implementation of the NICE epilepsy guidelines and develop plans to ensure these are met; and calls on the Government to take a lead in driving improvements in epilepsy service provision and appoint a national clinical director to review service provision in England and lead change.”

Of the 142 MPs; 82 are Labour, 19 Conservatives, 32 Liberal Democrats, 4 Democractic Ulster Unionists and 5 Independents.

• You can see who has signed the EDM by visiting the Houses of Parliament website.

Thank you to everyone who has sent the EDM postcard or has written to their MP to ask them to sign. Even if they haven’t, raising the issue helps improve epilepsy’s profile and will hopefully move it up the health agenda.

We hope people will continue to send the EDM postcard, even to MPs who have already signed the EDM. If the MP receives many copies of the card then they can see how strongly we feel about this issue.

Further copies of the postcard are available from Pete Scott, Campaigns and Policy Officer, who you can email at pscott@epilepsy.org.uk , or telephone 0113 210 8877.