The past year has seen many exciting developments at Epilepsy Scotland. A Big Lottery Fund award and capital funding appeal meant the refurbishment of our building and expansion of our key services. Our upgraded training facilities have helped us deliver well over one hundred courses all over Scotland in understanding, managing and treating epilepsy to thousands of people working in education, health, housing, social work and community care, public and private companies.
The creation of a new Helpline & Information Suite allowed us to expand our freephone helpline service and we can now reach even more of those who need our help. There are an estimated 40,000 Scots living with epilepsy and we continue to receive calls daily from those who require information and support on a huge range of topics from diagnosis, stigma and discrimination, to benefits and employment.
Euan Robson MSP and Epilepsy Scotland supporters launch the charity's Guidelines for Teachers
Our policy work and campaigning voice grows ever stronger and Epilepsy Scotland now has one of the largest cross party groups in the Scottish Parliament. In October we ran a seminar for healthcare professionals about using telemedicine to help people with neurological conditions who live in rural areas. In 2007 we will launch a new leaflet targeting employers, which we hope will help ensure equality in the workplace.
A new Epilepsy Scotland website was launched in October and currently receives almost 4,000 hits per week. Our work in producing and updating information leaflets and literature about epilepsy includes a new leaflet on epilepsy and memory for those who find their memory is affected both by the condition and their medication. Over the last year Epilepsy Scotland has organised open meetings throughout Scotland where people come along to find out more about epilepsy and have their questions answered and there are many more planned for 2007.