What resources? Addressing the needs of the epilepsy community

Epilepsy is a condition which spans several disciplines within medicine, as well as having an impact on many non-medical areas such as employment and education. Services for epilepsy in the UK have not been developed according to any coherent strategy and remain fragmented and unevenly distributed. Successive attempts to address these shortcomings by publishing recommendations, even with government assistance, have not led to major improvements. Recent changes in the organization of health care services might at least present an opportunity to effect change by educational initiatives directed towards purchasers and providers. However, the absence of epilepsy from The Health of the Nation objectives represents a failure to get the message through to those with the ability to direct policy. The plethora of new, effective and expensive pharmaceutical treatments should lead to a raising of epilepsy awareness among the medical profession as a consequence of marketing activity, but this is already causing conflict with Family Health Service Associations (FHSAs) and others with equivalent lack of vision. I would suggest that only by politicizing the consumer can the change we seek be brought about.