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SláinteCare Integration Fund

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We are delighted that Epilepsy Ireland’s proposal was one of the 122 projects from around the country to receive funding under the SláinteCare Integration Fund.

The Fund was established to support innovative projects led by hospitals, primary care centres and patient organisations that have the potential to improve citizen engagement in their own healthcare or that can encourage a shift in care from the hospital to the community.

Over the next year, we will receive an allocation of €93,000 to develop the pathway of community care supports for people with epilepsy in Ireland. One of the key aspects of our project is to pilot an early intervention for people who are newly diagnosed with epilepsy.

Our Community Resource Officers will team up with HSE Epilepsy Nurse Specialists to jointly deliver a series of education sessions covering the wide range of medical and non-medical issues that accompany a new diagnosis of epilepsy.  Our members will be all too aware of the initial shock that a diagnosis can bring and the myriad of questions that need to be asked and answered at this stressful and confusing time.

By working hand in hand with our medical colleagues, newly diagnosed people with epilepsy will be provided with a suite of critical information and tools early in their epilepsy journey and will have an identified link within the community for non-medical support and follow-on self-management programmes. The project will initially focus on Dublin hospitals with a view to expanding nationwide if longer term funding is secured. The second element of the project is in collaboration with the Department of General Practice in University College.

Cork and focuses on supporting those with an established epilepsy diagnosis, in particular patients being managed mainly through general practice. It will focus on equipping patients and doctors with the tools and training needed to make the most of the limited time available in consultations. This part of the project will initially focus on the Cork area.

Epilepsy Ireland’s Director of Services, Tara Smith, welcomed the funding commenting, “We are delighted that Slaintecare have recognised the value in our new and innovative approach to improving community supports for people with epilepsy. As a community organisation, we continually strive to support people with a new diagnosis of epilepsy. This project will assist us and our medical colleagues to facilitate a joint approach to epilepsy care, ensuring that individuals are fully informed and are supported to be active in the selfmanagement of their condition. We would like to thank the Department & Sláintecare for supporting our application and look forward to sharing the outcomes of this work.”