Kids For Life Epilepsy Fellowship Program

Epilepsy is the most common, significant neurological problem in childhood affecting as many as 2% of all children.

Whilst NSW has world class specialists in this field, they are fast approaching retirement and until 2008, nothing was done to ensure their work continues through the training and development of their junior colleagues. As it stands, there are increasing demands on the current service and its capacity to meet these demands is already seriously limited.

Our aim is to make the Epilepsy Service at Sydney Children’s Hospital truly comprehensive. Our vision is to offer each child excellent medical care and, for their families, an understanding of epilepsy and its implications. The long term strategy is to build and sustain a comprehensive specialist Epilepsy Service for families across NSW, maintained by a network of paediatricians and neurologists trained at Sydney Children’s Hospital.

The Kids for Life Epilepsy Fellowship Program will train junior paediatric doctors as well as a specialist Nurse to guarantee a body of expertise to continue gold standard epilepsy care for children in NSW well into the future. Whilst the program and training is initiated at Randwick, these specialists would quickly share their knowledge and skills as they move to different positions within Sydney and into other hospitals and communities across the state. The Nurse will support the expanding surgical program and have a key role in the transition of patients to the adult unit.