Take headaches more seriously, NHS is urged...

Dr Mark Weatherall, Consultant Neurologist, is one of the busiest Doctors at The Medical Chambers Kensington. I've just read a story in The Times newspaper which goes a long way to helping me understand why. Here it is.

Rising numbers of patients are going to A&E with crippling headaches because they cannot get help elsewhere or have their concerns dismissed by family doctors, a group of MPs says.

"Headaches should be taken more seriously by the NHS, with specialist GPs trained to deal with migraines", the all-party Parliamentary group on primary health headache disorders says. Millions of patients do not know where to turn in a system where headaches are often "what of the pile" of priorities, the MPs say in a report published today.

There are only 11 specialist headache nurses in Britain, which the report says is wholly inadequate adding that more clinics are urgently needed.

About 7 million people suffer from migraines and the report says that the NHS is not doing enough to tackle the £7 billion cost to the economy of workdays missed because of the condition. Last year, patients were taken to hospital 19,000 times with severe headaches, a 12% rise on 2012.

This article appeared in The Times newspaper.