Epilepsy Referral
LHSC’s Epilepsy Program offers specialized diagnostic assessments, individualized treatment planning, and long-term management within the outpatient setting. The goal of the program is to help patients achieve optimal seizure control and improve quality of life through advanced therapies, collaborative care, and access to a variety of diagnostic and treatment options.
Once a referral is received, it is reviewed for completeness by a member of the Central Intake Team before being forwarded to an epileptologist for clinical review. The epileptologist determines whether the referral meets the Epilepsy Program’s clinical criteria. Once the epileptologist determines if the referral will be accepted or declined, a member of the Central Intake Team will contact the referring provider to communicate the referral decision, along with any relevant next steps.
Referral criteria
LHSC’s Epilepsy Program accepts patients with refractory epilepsy, defined as patients who continue to have seizures despite adequate trial of two anti-seizure medications.
The program does not accept:
- First seizure patients
- Provoked seizures
- Acute symptomatic seizures
- Patients with epilepsy adequately controlled on anti-seizure medications
- Patients outside our catchment area*
- Urgent cases
*Epilepsy referral pathways have been endorsed by the Epilepsy Implementation Task Force (EITF) and Provincial Neurosurgery Advisory Committee (PNAC) and can be found at https://epilepsysco.org under Resources, then Provincial Guidelines for Epilepsy Care in Ontario.
