Anger as epilepsy phone service stopped due to lack of maternity cover

Parents of children with epilepsy have expressed anger after a phone service — providing a swift and direct contact with two epilepsy nurses — was stopped due to a lack of maternity cover.

The phone number allowed people to contact the nurses at Cork University Hospital (CUH) who, in turn, had contact with consultant paediatric neurologists at the hospital.

However, one nurse retired last summer and the other nurse is understood to have began a period of maternity leave. It has led to a surge in calls from concerned parents to the local office of Epilepsy Ireland, prompting the HSE to offer assurances the vacant posts will be filled “in the very near future”.