I have had some time to think about writing this post. It was sparked by my fellow bloggers post about the loss of her epilepsy nurse (1).
I do not have an epilepsy nurse. I had to put up quite a fight to keep my consultant neurologist.
First I would like to say thank you to my Consultant Neurologist and to my GP Doctors medical practice. I would like to say thank-you, you are all great and you are all doing the best you can in what appears to be increasingly difficult conditions in relation to funding health services in the UK.
But in relation to access to health care for epilepsy, this is my story.
As a child with epilepsy I saw my consultant pediatrician and was assigned to him until my 18th year when I finally became an adult under UK health provision.
He tended to my health care needs and oversaw my prescription medication. He was a lovely man and I was sad to hear he has now passed away.
I encountered the biggest problems with seizures whilst I was at college in my late teens and early 20ās. I had moved away from my home hospital in Wales and after a couple of years ended up in England.
There did not seem to be any plan for who would oversee my medication and epilepsy care. I think on reflection that this was at a time when there were no National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for epilepsy care (2)(3) in the UK. Through organisations like Epilepsy Action (4) awareness of the importance of epilepsy care has also grown amongst health care professionals.
My GP (General Practitioner) in England was in charge of my medication and decided to change it. The change was made (as it always is) in my best interests. When I had a significant deterioration in seizure control because of the new medication it took 2 years for me to be assigned to a Consultant Neurologist in a different county in England.
England has different health care arrangements by different Countyās much like Wales, but these shift depending on where the specialist services are located.
The consultant who I was assigned to was an expert in his field, but he had a LOT of patients and not a lot of time for me. This experience was not a positive one.
I moved from one county in England to another county, and despite significant problems with seizures there really wasnāt much help from my then neurologist because he just gave me more and more medication which didnāt work.
It is difficult not to want to apportion blame, but I have come to the conclusion that when things go wrong rather than being one personās fault it is in fact a huge system failure that by and large results in poor health care.
I think that medication is seen as the cheapest option and therefore, for a lot of people the only one.
Finally after some years, my GP decided to take action and referred me to a new Neurologist. This is the one I see to this day. I hold him in high esteem and think he is very thorough. He does listen to me, even though we have differences in opinion.
The problem with this was we had to start from scratch.
He left no stone unturned in the search for my brain squiggles (EEG), and although it took years for him to confirm that I am indeed epileptic, at least I now have closure on this. It made me highly anxious that there may have been some possibility that I could have a brain tumour, scar or be so deeply troubled that I might be able to lose consciousness and go blue and have convulsions all by myself. Then there were the lights, headaches, myoclonic jerks and medication side effects as well as partial seizures.
I could access the epilepsy nurse under my Neurological Consultant in England.
I will never be able to thank my neurologist enough for removing most of my medication.
I can now think.
But it wasnāt over there.
I am now back in Wales and continued to see my neurologist in England without any problems for several years. I did not have an epilepsy nurse, but that didnāt matter so much because I was assigned to a specialist neurologist.
Then the local health board was re-arranged to create a different funding structure a few years ago.
The county where I live does not have a Specialist Consultant Neurologist for Epilepsy or Epilepsy Nurse.
One day I got a letter from the hospital in England saying that my health board were no longer going to pay for my neurological consultations.
This decision had been taken by the local health board without assigning me to a Consultant Epilepsy Neurologist in Wales, or Consulting my General Practitioner or my consultant neurologist in England.
I was absolutely furious. I made a complaint with the help of an NHS Advocate.
I was not able to see my consultant for a year.
It took the health board that long to work out that they would have to pay for me to see a Consultant Neurologist in Wales if they did not continue to fund my trips to England.
As part of my complaint I asked the health board to tell me what they planned to do about access to epilepsy services in Wales.
Then there was a change in Government.
I am now deeply troubled by the current governmentās ideas about private health care. (5)(6)
My health has suffered because there was not a joined up service. Under the new proposals, the NHS would be more open to private companies and further fragmentation.
I have seen how private companies and fragmentation has negatively affected the welfare state in Britain.
I find it deeply troubling that more and more people not just with epilepsy but with other health problems will fall through the gaps or face charges for care when there is no money.
If your health is poor you canāt work.
I feel like I have to do all the health care work for myself.
I still donāt have an epilepsy nurse.
In comparison to some countries I obviously feel grateful to have health care at all.
This is not everyoneās experience of epilepsy care in Britain, but it is mine.
1) http://rosewinelover.com/2013/02/25/you-wont-be-seeing-frank-any-more-hes-no-longer-here/
2)http://publications.nice.org.uk/the-epilepsies-the-diagnosis-and-management-of-the-epilepsies-in-adults-and-children-in-primary-and-cg137
3)http://publications.nice.org.uk/the-epilepsies-the-diagnosis-and-management-of-the-epilepsies-in-adults-and-children-in-primary-and-cg137/key-priorities-for-implementation#management
4) Epilepsy Action http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/
5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21649307
6) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21703667
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