NSE Assessment Centre

Work has started on the construction of a £2.4 million purpose-built, state of the art epilepsy Assessment and Treatment Centre at the headquarters of the UK's leading medical charity for epilepsy. The official turf-turning ceremony was held on Friday 16 February conducted by Sir Nigel Mobbs, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.

The Centre, at the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE) headquarters in Chalfont St Peter, will be the most advanced of its kind in the world. Patients are admitted from all over the country for a full assessment of their diagnosis and treatment.

Professor John Duncan, Medical Director for the NSE, commented: “The current Centre admits around 300 patients a year and sees a further 2000 a year in the outpatients’ clinic. At the present time, the Assessment and Treatment Centre is housed within a building which is 50 years old. It is showing its age and the facilities for the patients aren’t really up to the 21st century. Accommodation is cramped, there is a lack of leisure space and dormitories afford little privacy.

“The new unit will have 26 beds and it will have all the facilities we could need for the optimal assessment and treatment of epilepsy. We will have video telemetry, which allows the recording of seizures both on video and on EEG, the brainwave recording, at the same time.

The £2.4 million has been raised over the past two years. Contributions have come from grant-making trusts, the National Lottery Charities Board, company and individual donations. Although £300,000 is still needed to fully equip and furnish the new unit, it is expected to be operational by January 2002.

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