§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines on the treatment of patients with epilepsy have been given to primary care trusts; and if he will make a statement. [60082]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department has supported the Joint Epilepsy Council in developing a "National Statement of Good Practice for the Treatment and Care of People who have Epilepsy", which was published in May 2002. The statement makes a series of recommendations for good quality epilepsy services. It is intended to facilitate commissioning and will be of use to national health service purchasers, providers and service users.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides advice on best clinical practice to NHS clinicians, commissioners of NHS services, and to patients and their carers. NICE is developing a clinical guideline for the diagnosis, management and treatment of epilepsy, NICE is also conducting a technology appraisal of the clinical and cost effectiveness of new anti-epileptic drugs in children and adults to help promote appropriate uptake and equitable access. The appraisal is due late next year and the guideline summer 2004, and both will be available to primary care trusts.
§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if further research will be undertaken into the causes of sudden death of epilepsy sufferers; [60079]
(2) what further research he plans to undertake into SUDEP and epilepsy. [60084]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department has recently welcomed the publication of the National Sentinel Audit of Epilepsy-Related Death. The audit looked at investigations into epilepsy deaths, care provided prior to death and contact with bereaved families. It makes recommendations for improving epilepsy services. The Department has given a commitment to consider these and develop an action plan by September 2002 to try to reduce the number of epilepsy-related deaths.
It is a long-standing, and important, principle of successive Governments that they do not prescribe to the individual research councils the detail of how they should distribute resources between competing priorities.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is the main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatments for disease. The MRC always welcomes high quality applications from the scientific community for support into any aspect of biomedical research, including epilepsy. Applications are judged in open competition with other demands on funding.
548WIn 2000–01 the MRC spent around £3 million on research relevant to epilepsy. Additionally, the Department has spent around £1.5 million on directly commissioned projects on epilepsy since May 1997. This research will help to improve our understanding of the condition and aid in the development of treatments for it.