Epilepsy unit set to open after delays

After a delay of more than two years a €500,000 specialist unit for monitoring seizures in people with poorly controlled epilepsy is set to open in January.

The opening of the four-bed epilepsy monitoring unit will allow the vital process of evaluating the suitability of epilepsy patients for potentially curative surgery to begin. Two previous HSE commitments to open the unit in 2013 and “early 2014” went unfilled leaving more than 100 patients with highly complex epilepsy, and at risk of a fatal seizure, on a waiting list.

However, the HSE has now set a date of January 5 to get the epilepsy unit up and running. Epilepsy Ireland CEO Mike Glynn, said he was sceptical about the date and questioned whether it was a tactic to take the spotlight off the HSE’s inaction.