THE DELAYS patients with epilepsy can experience waiting to see a neurologist in the Republic are unacceptable in comparison with other European countries, a leading specialist said yesterday.
Dr Norman Delanty, consultant neurologist and director of the epilepsy programme at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, said patients can still be waiting up to 18 to 24 months to see a neurologist so they can be diagnosed and put on the right treatment. Patients were at risk of injury and death if their condition was suboptimally treated, he added.
While additional neurologists had been appointed in the past year in Sligo, Limerick and Waterford, more progress needed to be made, he said, and a national epilepsy centre should be established for treatment of complex cases.
He was speaking after new research by Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association, revealed there are up to 37,000 people over the age of five with epilepsy in Ireland. It is the first prevalence study of epilepsy anywhere in Europe and was carried out by the UCD Centre for Disability Studies.
It found about 67 patients a week are being discharged from acute hospitals in Ireland after being treated for epilepsy and rates of epilepsy are higher in the west than the east and higher among men than women.
Brainwave chief executive Mike Glynn said epilepsy has suffered historical neglect and lack of investment. There were just 20 neurologists in the State when at least 42 were required to meet minimum European standards, he said.
“Now that we have data on the scale of the problem, it is imperative that we use this data in planning current and future service needs to ensure appropriate treatment is offered to those who need it.
“While it is clear we are living in changed economic times, Brainwave believes that there are a number of cost-effective measures which could be put in place to not only improve the quality of life of people with epilepsy, but which would also deliver major savings in public expenditure in the medium to long term,” he said. “At the top of the list of measures is the creation of additional epilepsy specialist nurse posts. Increasing the number of specialist nurses from just four to 14, two per HSE region, would fill many of the service gaps that exist on the ground and deliver major public savings in terms of disability living allowances, reduced medico-legal costs and reduced costs through misdiagnosis,” he added.
“Despite evidence that specialist nurses reduce the length of stay in hospital, reduce waiting list and increase patient satisfaction, there has been no addition to the number since 2004”, he claimed.
Brainwave says it previously offered to subsidise the cost of these nurses but the offer was rejected because the new posts would breach the employment ceiling in the health sector.
It also estimates there are about 60 to 70 epilepsy related deaths a year in the State but 40 per cent of them could be prevented by proper services.
Epilepsy is a neurological condition, diagnosed when someone has recurrent seizures caused by excess electrical activity in the brain.