North Thames Paediatric Network sign up for the Children’s Checklist

The North Thames Paediatric Network have signed up to the newly launched Paediatric SUDEP and Seizure Safety Checklist to use in their region.

A need was recognised within the network for clinicians seeing young people with epilepsy to take an informed and systematic approach to SUDEP discussions. Lee Butler, Epilepsy Specialist Nurse at North Thames Paediatric Network sought out SUDEP Action to support the implementation of the ‘Children’s Checklist’ and work together collaboratively to introduce it to practitioners within the network.

In August, alongside their partners Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, SUDEP Action launched the Children’s Checklist. The aim was to create a checklist that could be tailored specifically to address important risk discussions between young patients and their clinicians with the support of their carers and families. SUDEP Action also collaborated with Young Epilepsy and their youth voice network as part of this project. The Children’s Checklist grew from a need to support the early identification of epilepsy-related risk factors in children, leading to more effective management and interventions in their wellbeing and epilepsy care. We have gained more than 260 users since launching three months ago.

Lee Butler said “The North Thames Paediatric Network Epilepsy team is passionate about improving the lives and care of children and young people with epilepsy. One of our priorities for improving care within our nursing pilot is focusing on SUDEP discussions to help to reduce the risk to this patient group. We recognised that the SUDEP Action checklist would be a brilliant tool for clinicians and provide a helpful framework for these discussions. Now the checklist has been rolled out, we are hoping to work with trusts to encourage uptake and standardise processes. We are really excited about this work and hope it will make a huge difference in supporting clinicians, raising awareness about SUDEP and improving patient outcomes.”  

Ben Donovan, Special Projects Coordinator at SUDEP Action said “Following on from the success of the Adult SUDEP and Seizure Safety Checklist, the Children’s SUDEP and Seizure Safety Checklist fills an important role in supporting regular risk-management discussions between clinicians and young people with epilepsy as well as their carers and families. The data-collection conducted by North Thames Paediatric Network gave a good deal of insight ahead of implementation and we look forward to working with them and other organizations and networks in the future.”

Clinicians can sign up for a single-user licence for the Children’s SUDEP & Seizure Safety Checklist here.

If you wish to learn more about integrating the Children’s Checklist for multiple users within an organisation, please contact checklist@sudep.org.