General election 2024: make your voice heard for better migraine care

A UK general election has now been called for Thursday 4 July, offering people who understand the impact of migraine a chance to speak out and highlight to those seeking power how migraine affects all those who live with it.

What needs to change

The Migraine Trust is calling for all politicians to take migraine seriously and see it as a debilitating neurological condition. We want to see equal access to treatment and reliable support where people live from GPs and pharmacists.

This means: 

Why we need change

One in seven people in the UK live with migraine – around 10 million people. This means roughly 10,000 people per UK parliamentary constituency. One million people live with chronic migraine, experiencing headache more than 15 days a month for more than three months at a time. Migraine is far more than just a headache and can be debilitating having a significant impact on daily activity, ability to work and socialise, and mental health:

• In a survey by The Migraine Trust, high numbers have had cut down to part-time work or left a job entirely because of their migraine – 56% said their workplace had not made reasonable adjustments to support them in work 
• The impact of migraine costs the overall UK economy at least £4.4 billion a year from 28 million lost workdays, and the NHS spends around £150 million a year on treating migraine
• Incidence of anxiety is around four times higher than in those without migraine, and research by The Migraine Trust found 78% of respondents living with migraine said it impacts their mental health

Despite all this, migraine is still often written off as ‘just a headache’, and stigmatised and neglected by local health systems. Our support services hear from patients every day who struggle to get the support they need. Research has found huge inconsistencies in access to specialists and to key medications across local NHS areas. Waiting times for specialist headache and migraine care in England alone have doubled between 2021 and 2023, and patients and clinical experts alike have highlighted the barriers people living with migraine face in primary care.

How to make sure you can vote

Polling Day will be Thursday 4 July. However, people who might struggle to vote on that one day have other options and in the last general election around one in five people voted with a postal vote or voted by proxy (nominating someone you trust to cast your vote for you). Just as people with migraine so often have to worry about migraine attacks and symptoms disrupting other aspects of everyday life, these options could be useful if you are concerned about migraine symptoms or attacks on Polling Day affecting your voting plan. There is even an option to apply for an emergency proxy vote on Polling Day itself.

Ask your potential candidates to support better migraine care >

How, for who and even whether you vote is completely up to you, but don’t let migraine stop you from using your voice.

Key dates