Commons Sense

House of Commons · General Debate

Children (Access to Treatment)

18 March 2020 · 1 other contributor

Opened by Bambos Charalambous Lab Southgate and Wood Green

Children & FamiliesNHS

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Bambos Charalambous raised concerns about children (access to treatment) in the House of Commons. Other MPs contributed to the debate.

Key points

  • Charalambous moved a Bill to address disagreements over medical treatment for seriously ill children.
  • The Bill aims to introduce mediation services, access to clinical ethics committees, and swift second medical opinions.
  • The Bill also seeks to provide legal aid for families and establish a new legal test on the risk of significant harm from alternative treatments.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Bambos Charalambous Lab Southgate and Wood Green

Charalambous moved a Bill to address the issue of disagreements over medical treatment for seriously ill children, highlighting cases such as Tafida Raqeeb and Ashya King. He emphasised that current dispute resolution systems lead to lengthy court proceedings, emotional harm, stress, and loss of time which could otherwise be spent on treating the child. The Bill aims to introduce mediation services, access to clinical ethics committees, swift second medical opinions, legal aid provision for families, and a new legal test on whether an alternative treatment causes disproportionate risk of significant harm.

Other contributors (1)
  • Bambos Charalambous Lab Southgate and Wood Green

    Charalambous argued that existing dispute resolution systems for disagreements about medical treatment for seriously ill children are flawed, causing emotional distress and expensive court proceedings. He mentioned the cases of Tafida Raqeeb and Ashya King to illustrate successful outcomes despite initial disputes. Charalambous introduced a Bill aimed at improving early access to mediation services, clinical ethics committees, second medical opinions, legal aid provision for families, and a new legal test regarding alternative treatments.

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