One in five children with epilepsy don’t see a paediatrician with specialist training in childhood epilepsy, despite this being recommended by national guidelines, show the results from the United Kingdom’s first national audit of care for children with epilepsy.1

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health commissioned the audit, which was published this week, to assess the provision of healthcare for young people with suspected epileptic seizures against 12 standard measures recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network.

Local paediatricians and nurses from 186 paediatric units (of the 197 units contacted) caring for children with suspected or confirmed epilepsy collected data on nearly 5000 children during the first 12 months after first presentation to district level health services during …