8. Diolch, Lywydd. What role does the First Minister envisage for specialist epilepsy nurses in delivering care and support to those living with epilepsy? OAQ(5)0181(FM)

The neurological conditions delivery plan for Wales and the 2008 Wales neuroscience review recognise the important role neurology specialist nurses, such as those caring for people with epilepsy, can have in supporting people to manage their condition effectively.

I thank the First Minister for that response. Does he agree that, in addition to improving the quality of care for patients living with epilepsy, speciality epilepsy nurses can also reduce costs to the NHS, by reducing the call on consultants’ time, on hospital admissions and emergency readmissions? And would he encourage local health boards to actively develop investment cases to employ more specialist epilepsy nurses?

Yes, I would. We know that there are good examples across Wales of where epilepsy nurses have been hugely useful, not just to the patient, but of course, to the health service as a whole in terms of being able to deal with conditions quickly and as close as possible to the patient. As far as the health boards are concerned, we do expect them to consider the staffing mix required to deliver neurological services to their local population and tailor it accordingly. That would mean, of course, looking at having a sufficient number of epilepsy nurses in order to not just provide the service, but to lessen the pressure on the service further on down the line.

First Minister, given that recent reports have suggested we should have 88 epilepsy nurses in Wales and we’ve currently got nine, and given the difficulties we have in recruiting people, I’m not going to ask you to go and find 81 extra nurses overnight. However, what we could do is run specialised epilepsy clinics on a more frequent basis. Scotland has five such clinics for just over 5 million people and Northern Ireland has two for just under 2 million people. So, that’s about 1 million people per clinic and their populations are served well. Here in Wales, we’ve got one centre based in Cardiff for just over 3 million people. It is an absolutely known fact that 70 per cent of people with epilepsy could have their seizures better controlled if they had access to such services. At the moment, we’re only just over the 50 per cent mark in Wales. So, whilst we can’t magic up another 81 epilepsy nurses overnight, perhaps getting neurologists to hold a few more clinics in a more fair and accessible way throughout Wales could help us achieve the same.

I can say we’ve committed £1 million annually to support the national implementation group for the neurological conditions plan to improve services in Wales. As a result of that allocation, I know that the neurological conditions and stroke groups have jointly committed £1.2 million to support community neuro-rehab services, and that investment across Wales will bring considerable benefits to patients and provide greater equity of access to services across Wales.