Southport epileptics could avoid hospital visits

Epileptics in Southport could avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital thanks to a North West project giving paramedics instant access to their information.

Epilepsy is estimated to affect more than 500,000 people in the UK, and more than 57,000 in the North West.

Following a seizure, paramedics will often convey people to hospital unnecessarily. The person may have had epilepsy for a number of years and all they need is a safe place to recover, to take their rescue medication and for a family member to be informed.

When patients are taken to A&E, staff do not have access to their medical information, resulting in unnecessary admissions, investigations and potential treatment errors.

To address this, Liverpool Health Partners is working on a project that has received a funding boost from UK Research and Innovation project – PED4PED – People with Epilepsy Sharing Data for Care with Paramedics and the Emergency Depart- ment.