The charity behind the service said a lack of funding was behind its decision. 

Epilepsy Scotland has been forced to stop its only in-person Aberdeenshire based support group due to lack of funding.

After stepping in to cover the closing down of a separate epilepsy in person support group in early 2023, the charity has been so far unable to secure funding for the service, which means the difficult decision has had to be made to close the service.

It is hoped that funding can be sourced for this service to re-open in the future, but until that can be secured the service remains unsustainable as it is currently being paid for by using the charity’s reserves.

This, unfortunately, leaves people with epilepsy in Aberdeenshire with no face-to-face epilepsy focussed social support, as there are no other groups in the area delivering similar services. 

Members of the group have now been referred to the charity’s Online Support Group, where they can continue to receive some support now that their local service has been forced to close.

Epilepsy Scotland’s CEO, Lesslie Young, said: “It's never easy to close down services which people have truly benefited from. I personally met with members of this group at its last meeting and stories of how the group has helped with confidence, mental wellbeing, and tackling social isolation were powerful and consistent feedback from members. These stories made the decision to close the service even more difficult.

“However, the reality is that delivering this service costs around £40,000 a year and we have so far been unable to secure external funding for the service. This tragically means running the service is unsustainable for the charity and we had to make the hard decision to close it.

“We are keen that social support for members of this group does not suddenly stop, so we are referring them to our Online Support Group and other remote based support services we provide.”