Oxfordshire MPs support SUDEP Action on Purple Day
The Oxfordshire MPs supporting SUDEP Action are also campaigning to improve services in the county to help families and clinicians.
Pictured above from left: Linda Mcaleer (SUDEP Action Supporter), Charlie Maynard MP, Callum Miller MP, Olly Glover MP, Jane Hanna (Director of Policy & Influencing, SUDEP Action)
Three Oxfordshire MPs have shown their support for SUDEP Action by wearing purple on Purple Day.
The MPs backing SUDEP Action on Purple Day are: Olly Glover (Didcot & Wantage); Charlie Maynard (Witney) and Callum Miller (Bicester & Woodstock).
Celebrated annually on March 26, Purple Day is all about increasing everyone’s understanding of epilepsy. Cassidy Megan from Canada founded the first Purple Day event in 2008. Motivated by her own struggles of living with epilepsy, she realised the importance of helping others to know more about what she was going through.
The Oxfordshire MPs supporting SUDEP Action are also campaigning to improve services in the county to help families and clinicians.
The State of Oxfordshire’s epilepsy services have been flagged as a governance risk by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Oxford University Hospital Trust also found in a report to the Oxfordshire County Council Joint Health and Overview Committee that there was:
- Far too small a service for the population
- A typical nine-month wait for someone to get a hospital outpatient appointment following a first seizure (NICE recommends 2 weeks)
- A three-fold increase in referrals for help from the epilepsy nurse service
- No primary care lead across the ICB for epilepsy, despite a ten-fold increase in GP requests
“I am pleased to show my support for wantage based SUDEP Action on Purple Day and help raise awareness of the needs people with epilepsy and their families” said Olly Glover, MP for Didcot and Wantage “The report presented to the Joint Health and Overview Committee highlights the need for a greater focus on services and treatment for people with epilepsy”.
SUDEP Action supporter Kristi MacDonald, who lives with epilepsy, petitioned the Oxfordshire Scrutiny Committee for help and is one of the seven out of 10 people who should be seizure-free on the right medication.
Kristi said: “I look well, work and look after my family, but I am at risk of sudden death unless I get my medication. I’m lucky that I have good access to an epilepsy team. Awareness of epilepsy is so low – which is why days like Purple Day really matter.
I rely on SUDEP Action’s EpSMon App to give me the knowledge and confidence to stand up for what I need.”
Find out more about Purple Day here.
