New action plan to help parents, caregivers of children with epilepsy

Parents and carers of children with epilepsy can now turn to a simple guide for first aid tips whenever a seizure takes place.

The Epilepsy Action Plan, drawn up by KK Women's and Children's Hospital, makes use of pictures to guide caregivers on how to position the child, administer medicine, and when to call an ambulance.

It also uses traffic-light colours to indicate the severity of a seizure, according to the symptoms displayed by the child - green for short seizures, red for those that require immediate medical help.

While up to 70 per cent of children with epilepsy can have their seizures controlled with medication, the remaining may occasionally still have seizures. Sometimes, such events are so rare that caregivers may forget what to do, said KKH, which diagnoses 75 to 100 new cases of childhood epilepsy every year.

The new guide will be rolled out next month across all paediatric departments in the hospital, in four languages.

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