Epilepsy

Our Clinical Leads

Epilepsy Clinical Lead (DGH)

Dr Chinwe Ude

Dr Ude is a Consultant Paediatrician with a Special Interest in Epilepsy at Darent Valley Hospital, the Clinical Lead for Paediatric Epilepsy for the past six years after building the service, the Trust Lead for the National Epilepsy12 Audit and a member of the South East Thames Paediatric Epilepsy Group (SETPEG)

Epilepsy Clinical Lead (Tertiary)

Elaine Hughes

Dr Hughes is a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist specialising in complex Epilepsy based at Evelina Children’s Hospital & King’s College Hospital, Chair of SETPEG, Lead for Regional Paediatric Epilepsy Services & Surgery and a member of Children Epilepsy Surgery Service National Steering Group.

Epilepsy Clinical Lead (CNS)

Florence Kennard

Florence is the Epilepsy Specialist Nurse for Epsom & St Helier Trust having had a keen interest in Epilepsy for ten years and leading on the completion of the National Epilepsy12 Audit for the Trust as well attending and being a member of the South West Thames Paediatric Epilepsy Group

About Us

In early 2022, following the Epilepsy12 Audit results, the STPN were provided funding to support the delivery of improved Paediatric Epilepsy Services across South Thames. This led to the recruiting of a Project Manager and 3 Epilepsy Clinical Leads to steer this work programme. We are also closely working with the South East Thames Paediatric Epilepsy Group (SETPEG) and the South West Special Interest Paediatric Epilepsy Group (SIPEG).

As a result of the Epilepsy12 audit, four main priority areas were identified:

Access to Mental Health Screening and Psychosocial Support
Referrals into tertiary services, including epilepsy surgery
Addressing variation in care delivery (e.g. access to epilepsy specialist nurses)
Improving transition care from paediatric to adult epilepsy services

The NHS England Children & Young People’s Transformation Programme currently holds national meetings addressing these four priorities and we are engaged with them to ensure we represent and voice the opinions of our partners in the STPN network.

As a scoping exercise, we are currently obtaining information and data from all providers in our region around their epilepsy service via a Survey. This data will allow us to benchmark, analyse demand/capacity and form measurable outcomes for improvements. The survey link is here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KGM6YBQ.

We also hope to visit Epilepsy Services in 2023 to find out more about the challenges providers face and identify opportunities of working together.

If you wish to be involved with this work (and haven’t been involved so far), or have anything that would be helpful to share with the wider network, please contact us via sara.mahjabin@gstt.nhs.uk

Useful document links are available below.