Regional Epilepsy Service

• Rapid access clinics
• Chronic disease management clinics
• Integrated care pathway for the emergency department
• Adult Ketogenic Dietary Therapy
• VNS clinic
• Phone advice line
• Email service
• Virtual clinics
• Teenage transition clinics
• Women’s health, family planning and pregnancy clinic
• Pre-surgery support clinical carepathway
• Community outreach service for intellectual disabilities
• Inclusion health service

For GPs making referrals, the preferred modes of contact are:

• Via Healthlink
• By email to epilepsy@stjames.ie
• Written referrals to:

Epilepsy Service
Department of Neurology Hospital 5
St James’s Hospital
James Street
Dublin 8

For existing epilepsy patients:

Epilepsy Advice line:
Monday and Thursday 8.30 to 12.30
Phone 01 4284135

Or Email Monday to Friday 8.30 to 4.30 epilepsy@stjames.ie

Medical Team Consultants

Dr Elisabeth Doran (Lead Consultant)
Prof Colin Doherty
Dr Yvonne Langan

Fellows
Dr Raluca Stanila
Dr Stephen Klaus

Nursing Team
Cara Synnott  (Advanced Nurse Practitioner)
Claire Behan (Advanced Nurse Practitioner)
Denise Cunningham  (Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Tallaght University Hospital)
Sinead Hynes (Advanced Nurse Practitioner)
Anne Gough (Advanced Nurse Practitioner)
Aisling Cope ( Clinical Nurse Specialist)

Multidisciplinary Team
Laura Healy (Clinical Specialist Dietitian)

The service in St James’s Hospital consists of three of the most experienced consultant neurologists in Ireland with special expertise in epilepsy care. They are supported by a dedicated team of registered advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. Several scientists affiliated with Trinity College Dublin and The Royal College of Surgeons conduct research in conjunction with our staff and patients.

The service prides itself on being as patient-centred as possible. We  prioritise access to the service by phone, email or face to face consultation. The service adheres strictly to recognised pathways of care for patients, which have been developed as part of the National Epilepsy Care Programme over the past ten years to provide the best quality of service

epilepsy model of care.pdf

The Dublin Mid-Leinster Epilepsy Service is one of the few clinical services in Ireland to use a shared national clinical electronic patient record (EPR) that gives us access to patient information anytime it is required.

The Dublin Mid-Leinster Epilepsy Service was among the first clinical service in Ireland to use virtual care, even before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. More than 50% of consultations are now conducted using email, phone or video.

Outreach services are now provided to vulnerable populations.; We provide outreach to intellectual disability residential care facilities, and homeless people and prisoners with epilepsy.

The epilepsy service at St James’s Hospital is a Learning Health System. This means that staff are constantly reviewing the work they do and the care they deliver, informed by the feedback received from patients to redesign and enhance care for patients with epilepsy.

There are over 1,000 presentations with seizures to St James’s Hospital every year, with just less than half of these patients being admitted.

The hospital has employed a specific pathway for epilepsy care for the past number of years and has consistently seen year on year a reduction in admissions by the use of an evidence-based, intelligent support tool for Emergency Room doctors to help with decisions on admission and discharge.

Once a decision to discharge is made, the epilepsy service is committed to rapid follow-up within ten days of an Emergency Department attendance.

Clinics led by Advanced Nurse Practitioners: (please specify in referrals if you wish to be seen at these special clinics)

• Pregnancy and Women’s Health Clinic – prenatal and postnatal care (Tuesday morning)
• Transition Clinic for adolescents transitioning to adult services (this is a group clinic that takes place three times per year)
• Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic (four times per year)
• Vagal Nerve Stimulator Clinics (Friday morning)
• Pre and Post Epilepsy Surgery clinics (once per month)
• Outreach clinics:
• To intellectual disability services in Cheeverstown House and Stewarts Hospital
• Homeless services (SafetyNet)
• Prisons

Virtual Care Clinics are where patients have their appointments at home or work by phone or video.

The epilepsy service has a robust research programme with affiliations with the Neurology Unit in Trinity College Dublin and the Science Foundation Ireland funded Research Centre FutureNeuro located at RCSI.

The team has specific research interests in pathways of care to improve patient outcomes:

E-Health and epilepsy

Genetics of epilepsy

Brain imaging in epilepsy

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)

Autoimmune epilepsy

There are two Rapid Access Clinics per week; these are on Tuesday and Friday.

Patients referred to the service who need to be seen quickly, can be referred to the RAC. These patients will receive a phone call within two weeks of receipt of an emailed referral and within six weeks of paper referral. Patients referred by the Emergency Department will be seen automatically in a Rapid Access Clinic.