Life-saving epilepsy clinics will be equipped and supported across South America, Africa and Asia thanks to the kindness of Bespoke Healthcare Limited of Lancashire.
The leadership team at Bespoke Healthcare has generously gifted £10,000 to UK charity TeleEEG, in recognition of the impact and reach of the highly specialised Neurophysiology charity set-up by members of Bespoke’s extended clinical team.
TeleEEG was founded in 2011 by Dr Steve Coates, Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist of Whitley Bay, and Anne Clarke, Lead Clinical Physiologist of Truro following a UK pilot they undertook to prove the TeleEEG® model for Telemedicine.
Nepal was the first country-in-need to receive Dr Coates’ benevolent support in 2012 through TeleEEG. The British charity founder has gone on to recruit over 150 volunteer Doctors from around the world and enabled TeleEEG clinics at 70 hospitals in 25 developing world countries to date, including a satellite clinic in the Ecuadorian Islands of Galapagos.
It comes as a surprise to most people in the Western World, including Doctors, to learn that diagnosing and treating epilepsy is broadly non-existent in most of the developing world, this is referred to as the ‘epilepsy treatment gap’ which is as large as 90 – 100% in many low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates 35 million people are affected by the non-communicable disease in the developing world.
Zoe Fairhurst, Business Strategy Lead speaking on behalf of Bespoke Healthcare Limited, described their motivation behind supporting TeleEEG,
“Bespoke Healthcare Ltd has been a Neurophysiology healthcare provider in the UK since 2006. Our main focus is on patient care and providing a seamless experience from referral to clinical report. We are the first and only UKAS Accredited Neurophysiology Company in the UK with IQIPS (Improving Quality in Physiology Services), as well as being CQC registered and inspected. Our Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) connection sets us apart, and with our dedicated team of 50 specialists we engage with and deliver critical neurophysiological diagnostic services across the UK on behalf of the NHS as a trusted provider.”
“Every year we look at which charities we can support and how we can give to both national and local organisations. Our colleague’s Dr Coates and Anne Clarke speak so passionately about the voluntary work they do abroad. Knowing we have been able to provide support for one clinic and help fund a visit to another country to help sick children, whilst also enabling nursing staff to have training and for the diagnosis of epilepsy to be remotely facilitated where it otherwise would not reach is something we are extremely humbled to support. It is an honour for us to be able to give our support to TeleEEG. What they do is truly wonderful, they are a lifesaving and life changing team.
“Our collective focus is firmly on efficient access to quality health care for all. For us in the UK this means local and tailored for each individual client, for TeleEEG this means remote, global and otherwise unachievable. Diagnosing epilepsy in anyone of any age is absolutely crucial to quality of life as epilepsy can be extremely debilitating.
“We have followed TeleEEG since its inception, so we are aware of the epilepsy treatment gap and hope in giving our full support, we can also help raise awareness and encourage others to think how they can also support TeleEEG to help children and adults suffering epilepsy.”
TeleEEG provides under-resourced countries with EEG equipment and trains local staff on performing EEG tests, its virtual team of volunteers then report the EEGs remotely as an advisory service. This is all provided free of charge. The charity has processed over 20,000 EEG reports and set-up 70 TeleEEG clinics in 25 countries to date.
Background
TeleEEG®
TeleEEG® is a charity registered in England and Wales (1168877). Hospital clinics enabled to date by TeleEEG are located in Bolivia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Mail, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Uganda, Ukraine, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
TeleEEG is arguably among the best value-for-donation charities in the world, having leveraged just £180,000 in donations into over £2 million worth of epilepsy aid over 10 years. It is surely one of the most efficient with routine case reporting taking on average just 3.5 days against a target of 5 days, and urgent cases with a target of 24 hours being reported in under 7 hours (at time of publishing for year to date 2023) . This would not be possible without the virtual team of volunteer Doctors who deliver the EEG remote reporting service overseas, and the TeleEEG® system of processes and technology that enables this to be delivered.
Reference Publications
Coates S., Stow C. (2020) Role of Technology Helping Epilepsy Diagnosis in the Developing World Through TeleEEG In: Okpaku S.O. (eds) Innovations in Global Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_126-1
Tele-EEG in the UK: a report of over 1,000 patients, Coates S, Clarke A, Davison G, Patterson V. J Telemed Telecare.2012 Jul;18(5):243-6.doi: 10.1258/jtt.2012.111003
Bespoke Healthcare Limited is a provider of comprehensive Neurophysiology diagnostic tests to the NHS & Private Sectors. As an independent provider we are able to deliver the full range of Neurophysiology services outside specialist NHS hospitals Bespoke Healthcare has seen over 100,000 patients from leading nationwide healthcare establishments both in the NHS and Private Sector. An approved supplier to a number of Healthcare Insurance providers including BUPA, we work side by side with our partners in the NHS as we are able to ensure a smooth and seamless patient pathway to limit stress caused to patients and ensure that the correct treatment plans can be quickly implemented.
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