Paediatric Epilepsy Service
Contact details
The service is available from Monday – Friday (excluding Bank Holidays) 8.00am to 4.00pm. There is a 24 hour voicemail facility in place outside these hour
Epilepsy is defined as a tendency to have recurrent seizures and is the most common serious neurological disorder, with 70% of patients developing it by 20 years of age.
The overall goal of managing epilepsy is to enable the child / young person and their family to lead a normal life as free as possible free from seizures. This is achieved through access to specialist paediatric epilepsy services which have effective links to schools, primary care and other services accessed by the child / young person and family
At present there are 280 children and young people with epilepsy under the care of the Children’s Epilepsy specialist service in Northampton.
Specialist Epilepsy Nurse: Consultant:
Kathy Chantler Dr John Hewertson
The role of the epilepsy specialist nurse is broad and highly specialised with the aim of improving services for the child/young person with epilepsy.
The epilepsy specialist Nurse works independently, has a number of core and pivotal roles including:
- Increasing access to specialist services and resources
- Improving communication between hospital-community
- Improving communication between hospital- family links
- Promoting multi-disciplinary follow-up of the child/ young.
Referrals to the Epilepsy Service
Children and young people from 0-18 years of age (or up to 19 if still receiving paediatric care) with a diagnosis of epilepsy, can be referred to the epilepsy service where they are under the care of a Northampton General hospital or community consultant paediatrician within Northamptonshire, up to the point of transition into adult services.
Babies and young children with recurrent and prolonged febrile convulsions may also be referred to the service.