Motion: Epilepsy Scotland, 55th Anniversary

Epilepsy Scotland, 55th Anniversary

Lodged by Mary Mulligan Members' Business Motion 37 supporters

The motion

That the Parliament congratulates the leading charity, Epilepsy Scotland, on its 55th anniversary; notes that, since its inception in 1954, the organisation has been working with people living with epilepsy to ensure that their voices are heard, providing vital services, support and information through the decades for the nearly 40,000 Scots with this serious neurological condition, their families, carers and related professionals; acknowledges the contribution that Epilepsy Scotland has made to the development of managed clinical networks that aim to maximise scarce NHS resources and encourage best practice to address a 20% to 30% misdiagnosis rate; applauds the successful lobbying to make free travel cards more accessible to people with epilepsy and recent campaigns to increase the number of epilepsy specialist nurses in Scotland and ensure consistent prescribing of epilepsy medication rather than generic substitution by pharmacists in 2010; recognises the impact of awareness-raising activities to tackle social stigma and discrimination associated with epilepsy through the organisation’s provision of a teachers’ guide to epilepsy, new later-life and epilepsy guidelines for GPs and employer of the year and journalist of the year awards; further congratulates Epilepsy Scotland for attracting the largest MSP support for the Cross-Party Group on Epilepsy and on keeping epilepsy high on the political agenda, and wishes the charity well with plans to offer new services that will develop the full potential of children and young adults who have difficult-to-control epilepsy.

Supporters (37)