To ask the Secretary of State for Health what framework her Department has in place for the development of general practitioners and nurses with a special interest in (a) neurology and (b) epilepsy. (101124)

In April 2003 the Department published guidelines for the appointment of general practitioners with special interests in epilepsy. Those guidelines, which were endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners, are currently under review alongside those for other specialties. Updated and revised versions will be published in 2007.

There are no plans to develop specific guidelines for nurses with a special interest in epilepsy, although under the ‘Modernising Nursing Careers’ initiative specialist nursing practice will be reviewed during the course of next year.