London, UK: The Chalfont Centre for Epilepsy

Abstract

The National Hospital for the Paralysed and the Epileptic was founded at Queen Square, London in 1857. This Hospital has since been renamed the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Early physicians at the National Hospital, who established the foundations of the modern understanding of epilepsy and its treatment, included Sir William Gowers, John Hughlings Jackson, Sir David Ferrier, Sir Victor Horseley and William Aldren Turner. The National Society for the Employment of Epileptics was founded in 1892. This was an initiative of the physicians at the National Hospital, in collaboration with philanthropic charities. There have been close links between the charity and the hospital ever since. In 1894, the society purchased a farm in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, establishing the Chalfont Centre for Epilepsy. The name of the society was changed to the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE) in 1907. The NSE has provided residential care and public education from that time at its Chalfont site and, since its beginning over a century ago, has been the largest UK epilepsy charity that supports research and provides care for those with epilepsy. In 1972, following a report by the UK Department of Health on the care of patients with epilepsy, a new National Health Service treatment unit was established at the Chalfont Centre, specially for patients with severe and complicated epilepsy. This Unit, termed the Special Assessment Unit, was run jointly by the National Hospital and the NSE and is the origin of the current National Health Service clinical inpatient and outpatient service for epilepsy at the Chalfont Centre. In 1950, the Institute of Neurology was founded as a postgraduate Institute of the University of London. The Institute has been closely linked with the National Hospital over the last half century. The unique tripartite arrangement of the current era between charity (NSE), university (Institute of Neurology of University College London) and hospital (the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery—NHNN) was established in 1983, with the joint appointment of Dr Shorvon as a Senior Lecturer in Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, and Consultant Neurologist at the NHNN and at the NSE. In 1988, the role of Medical Director of the NSE, was added to the existing posts of Senior Lecturer in Neurology at the Institute of Neurology and Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital. This led to the restructuring and reorganisation of the clinical and research work of the NHNN, NSE and Institute of Neurology. The result was a co-ordinated and comprehensive spectrum of clinical care and research at the Chalfont and Queen Square sites and stimulated the rapid development and expansion of the range and quality of endeavours in these areas. Since its beginning in 1894, the Chalfont Centre for Epilepsy has provided residential care for those with epilepsy and associated disorders, who were not able to live in the community.