Please support our Facial Palsy Awareness Week mission – to get a dedicated Facial Palsy page on the NHS patient information websites.

Too many Facial Palsy patients are still misdiagnosed, misinformed and misunderstood due to a lack of reliable, consistent information.

Facial Palsy UK's recent survey received our highest number of responses ever and showed that:

• Only one in five (21.8%) believe there is sufficient information about Bell’s Palsy on the NHS website.
• Only one in five (19.6%) believe there is sufficient information about other causes of Facial Palsy on the NHS website.

It also highlighted that people are still being misdiagnosed (40.5% of respondents with personal experience of facial palsy) and 83.3% agreed that improved information on the NHS website could reduce misdiagnosis of the cause of facial palsy.

Facial Palsy UK believe that having dedicated pages for Facial Palsy (not just Bell’s Palsy) on the four NHS websites will help to ensure that patients across the country can access safe, accurate information about their condition, as well as giving GPs and first responders a trusted resource to refer to.

This would also help to reduce misdiagnosis of conditions such as Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, Lyme Disease, tumours and cancers, as patients and health professionals would be more aware of symptoms that require further investigation.
 
We have already succeeded in getting this information published on the Northern Ireland NHS website, and our aim is to do the same in England, Scotland and Wales.

We understand that the NHS is under immense pressure, but we believe that publishing these pages will improve the organisation and efficiency of care by:

• Reducing misdiagnoses and catching serious conditions earlier to allow for swift interventions.
• Reducing erroneous referrals which result in wasted appointments.
• Reducing healthcare costs.
• Improving patient satisfaction.