Epilepsy service

The regional epilepsy service is run by doctors and nurses with expertise in epilepsy. they will help you to manage your condition. Patients are referred to us by their GPs, consultants in medicine or accident and emergency. You can also be referred through the general neurology service once a diagnosis has been made.

What is epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common condition with about one in every 100 people in the UK developing it at some point in their life. It is defined as a tendency to have recurrent, unprovoked seizures. Seizures are sudden disturbances of electrical activity in the brain).

There are many causes of epilepsy and special tests are often needed to find out why you have developed it and to decide what the best treatment is for you. Fortunately, in the majority of cases epilepsy can be controlled by taking anti-epileptic drugs regularly.

Our Team

We are made up of 3 Consultant Epileptologists, Consultant Neurophysiologist, 3 Epilepsy Specialist Nurses and a Clinical Psychologist.

Specialist clinics

We run a number of specialist clinics including:

First Seizure
Complex Epilepsy
Epilepsy Specialist Nurse led
Learning disability and Epilepsy
Pregnancy & Epilepsy including pre-natal counselling
Epilepsy Surgery
Genetic Epilepsy
Non-epileptic attacks psychology

First Seizure Clinic

This is a clinic for people who have had their first suspected seizure.

Referrals are taken from emergency departments and GPs around the region. You will see a doctor with expertise in seizures and blackout.

It is very important that you bring someone with you who has seen your blackout if possible. Once you have seen the doctor a nurse specialist will give you advice about safety and first aid for seizures.

Specialist care and support

Our team includes an epilepsy specialist nurse who will provide support and advice to help you and your family manage your symptoms and administer your own medication, so that you can carry on with normal daily life. Our Epilepsy Nurse runs special clinics where you can discuss any concerns you may have and there is also a dedicated telephone helpline which you can use.

Advanced technology and clinical expertise

We provide a range of specialist investigations to help understand why you have developed the condition and how best to control your symptoms. These include:

Electroencephalogram (EEG) – this measures the electrical activity of the brain and helps to diagnose the type of epilepsy someone has.

Computerised Tomography scan (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – these scans can help to identify any abnormality in the brain.

Videotelemetry (VT) – this is a prolonged recording of the EEG with video that enables doctors to see what happens to the brain activity during a seizure.