Ms Magdalen Rogers:

I thank Professor Hardiman. Data from the UK that we presented as part of our Patients Deserve Better campaign, for example, indicate that the appointment of a Parkinson’s disease nurse can reduce consultant neurology outpatient times by 40% through assuming responsibility for monitoring and adjusting medication and reducing readmission rates by 50%. There is clear evidence from other jurisdictions on the value of nurse specialists in neurology. Professor Hardiman has done work in respect of the value of nurse specialists in the management of motor neurone disease. There is a study from the school of nursing and midwifery in Trinity College Dublin, in association with Epilepsy Ireland, on the role of clinical nurse specialists and advance nurse practitioners in epilepsy services in improving the management of epilepsy in patients, improving patient satisfaction, adherence to medication and the effective running of outpatient epilepsy services.