May 22 2008
Dearth of epilepsy nurses
May, 22
Scotland is facing a serious drought of epilepsy nurses these days, giving a real tough time for the patients suffering from this disease. Now the situation is such that there is a great need for a better care to these epilepsy sufferers before the situation gets worse.
It was seen that not one health board in Scotland has the required number of specialist nurses. The patients are forced to go for other health boards to get the needed treatment and care. Expressing his views over this serious issue, Susan Douglas-Scott Chief Executive of Epilepsy Scotland said, “Managing epilepsy is hard work and yet Scotland has just 24 nurses who specialises in caring for people with epilepsy”.
These nurses use to treat the epilepsy patients with great care and support when ever a need arises. It is a harsh fact that no health board yet meets the recommended numbers of specialist nurses which is required. These specialist nurses deals with a lot of works relating to epilepsy, from epilepsy management, treatment, pre-conception planning and also deliver training for GPs. As per the Joint Epilepsy Council for the UK and Ireland one nurse is required for a population of 100,000. And to match with this target Scotland would be requiring three times more specialist nurses.
The government and health boards have a big ask on their hands to meet the required number of such specialist nurses.
