Innovating headache care: service setup and redesign benefits

Headache disorders are among the most common neurological condition worldwide. Globally, around 50% of adults experience a headache each year with migraine alone affecting over 1 billion people and ranking as the second leading cause of years lived with disability (GBD,2019)

Headache is the commonest neurological presentation and causes huge demand on both primary care and neurology services. 4% of neurology consultant referrals annually are for headache alone, many patients with headache disorders are contributing to the backlog of out-patient waiting times which Trusts are working hard to address.

Headache assessment and treatment for common headache disorders such as migraine, should be undertaken jointly between primary and secondary care. This may include intermediate community services, including GP’s with extended role, headache nurse specialists, headache services and self management programmes. Clearly we need to build capacity in systems so that more people with headache can be managed by competent professionals who can also advise them on how they can self manage and prevent headaches reoccurring.

Whether you’re a neurologist, specialist nurse, nurse, GP or allied health professional, this session is designed to enhance your knowledge, improve clinical confidence, and support collaborative care planning for clinicians wanting to consider new ways to deliver headache services. This webinar will provide details on how a nurse specialist can support headache management more efficiently and discuss how you may develop a similar service in your own neighbourhood.

Objectives

• To highlight how the headache nurse specialist can improve management of people with
  headache
• Detail how a post has been established in the community in NE Cumbria
• Provide example case studies from clinical practice