An audit of the management of patients with epilepsy in thirty general practices

An audit of the management of epilepsy in 30 general practices is presented. A total of 377 patients from widely dispersed practices in the UK independently completed questionnaires which mirrored similar questionnaires answered by their doctors. A lack of detailed awareness by the doctor of how epilepsy was affecting the patient was detected. Many patients were found to have difficulty in communicating anxieties and problems associated with the disease to their general practitioner. Use of drug monotherapy and anticonvulsant blood level monitoring was sub-optimal. This multi-centre study supports previous single-centre reports of certain deficiencies in long-term management of epilepsy in general practice.