MS calls for improved migraine care and awareness at Senedd event

A North Wales politician has called for improved migraine care and awareness at Senedd event.

Conservative Member of the Senedd Mark Isherwood made the call at a Senedd event with the Migraine Trust, ‘People with migraine deserve better!’.

At the event, people from across Wales shared experiences of living with migraine with each other and with Members of the Senedd.

450,000 people in Wales are estimated to be affected by migraines, yet, opening the event, Mr Isherwood said that despite such a high figure, the condition is often overlooked and misunderstood. He added that this is why the Migraine Trust is calling for a national drive to improve migraine care and awareness.

He said: “Today’s event aims to bring migraine patient advocates together with MSs to share experiences, both so that MSs better understand the importance of improving migraine care, and to develop relationships with MSs who can promote better migraine care nationally, here in the Welsh Parliament/ Senedd and locally with their Local Health Boards.

“Migraine is a common condition affecting one in seven adults and one in ten children in the UK – around 10 million people, including 450,000 in Wales.

“Migraine remains a debilitating condition, but basic misunderstanding of the reality of it means migraine is often dismissed as ‘just a headache’.

“The condition is still often stigmatised and neglected even by local health systems, and so people struggle to access the care and treatment they need, yet migraine has a substantial impact on people’s day-to-day lives, on the economy and on NHS capacity.

“Freedom of Information requests have found that average waiting times for migraine care have risen across much of the UK, including from 23 weeks in Wales in 2021 to 27 weeks in 2023.

“Research in 2023 by The Migraine Trust found that employees living with migraine reported a lack of reasonable adjustments and sometimes even having to leave their jobs.

“That is why the Migraine Trust is calling for a national drive to improve migraine care and awareness, in order to help improve best practice in local health systems, expand access to specialist care, and ensure that people living with migraine get the support and understanding they need and deserve in both the health system and at work.”