EPILEPSY SPECIALIST NURSES

That this House welcomes Epilepsy Action's report Best Care: the value of epilepsy specialist nurses; supports Epilepsy Action's campaign to preserve epilepsy specialist nurse (ESN) posts; recognises the invaluable contribution to patient care of the epilepsy specialist nurse; notes that ESNs save costs by reducing demand on consultants' time, reducing hospital admissions and reducing emergency readmissions; further recognises the increasing threat to ESNs of redundancy, reduced working hours or assignment to non-specialist duties as trusts seek short-term cost savings; and calls on the Government to ensure there is a national plan to enable all patients who are assessed as requiring access to an ESN to have that access.