News

Epilepsy Ireland were pleased to meet with Deputy Heather Humphreys, Minister for Social Protection yesterday regarding our proposals around access to Free Travel for people with epilepsy.

Epilepsy Ireland will be meeting with Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, this coming Tuesday to discuss access to the Free Travel scheme for people with epilepsy.

We very much welcome the Minister meeting with us on this most important issue and we look forward to highlighting the need for amendments to be made to the Free Travel Scheme to improve access to the scheme for people with epilepsy.

A new study focusing on stigma and epilepsy has recently been published in leading epilepsy medical journal, Epilepsia.

The study was conducted by the International League Against Epilepsy’s task force on stigma. For their research, the study’s authors reviewed published studies from between 1985 and 2019 on epilepsy & stigma from 13 global research databases.

Over the past year, Epilepsy Ireland has been closely following developments on the progression of the proposed Online Safety & Media Regulation Bill.

The Bill aims to protect people online by providing a series of definitions around what would be harmful online content and to make the sharing of such content illegal under Irish law.

New research which investigated the long-term efficacy of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) in people with epilepsy has recently been published in leading epilepsy medical journal, Epilepsia.

Researchers in Dublin City University's School of Psychology are seeking feedback from young people with epilepsy aged 18-25 for their study focussed on living with and managing a long-term health condition when entering adulthood.

The New Year will see the continuation of the Patients Deserve Better campaign.

The campaign was launched in 2021 and is being coordinated by our colleagues in the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI) and Epilepsy Ireland are proud to support the campaign.

The campaign has been highlighting the overall shortage of neurology nurses – covering all conditions including epilepsy – across Ireland.

New research recently published in the British Medical Journal has reported a significant increase in the prevalence of epilepsy related deaths across an eight-year period.

Researchers from Kings College London assessed data collected from the period 2004 – 2014 which was captured by the UK’s National Clinical Practice Research Datalink. This is a national database in the UK which collects anonymous patient data from GP centres across the UK.

In my note to our members, volunteers, and supporters last year, I quipped that many of us would not want to dwell too long on the year that was 2020. If only I knew then what we know now!

A new epilepsy medication developed for the treatment of focal-onset seizures in adults has moved a step closer to being reimbursed in the UK.

ONTOZRY® (also known as Cenobamate) has previously posted positive results regarding its efficacy in the treatment of these seizures through clinical trials with 40-64% of patients (depending on dose) experiencing a 50% drop in the frequency of their seizures during 3 months of treatment compared with 26% of patients taking placebo.