Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to the NHS of treating children with drug-resistant epilepsy who do not respond to conventional medications; and whether his Department is funding research of alternative treatments to ensure those children still receive sufficient medical care.

No estimate has been made of the annual cost to the National Health Service of treating children with drug-resistant epilepsy who do not respond to conventional medications. A detailed costing exercise is only usually undertaken where there is a new evidence-based treatment to potentially introduce.

At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, including the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.

The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has funded a range of ongoing and completed epilepsy research, including research into the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation as an alternative treatment for children and adults living with drug-resistant epilepsy, and research on implementing ketogenic diet therapy for children and young people with epilepsy.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including alternative treatments for children with drug-resistant epilepsy. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.