Advertisement

  1. National

NHS to fund Ashya King's treatment in Czech Republic

The NHS is to pay for five-year-old brain tumour patient Ashya King's proton beam therapy treatment in the Czech Republic.

His parents Brett and Naghemeh King sparked an international police hunt after they took their son out of Southampton General Hospital and travelled to Prague for the treatment which was not available for him on the NHS.

View all 159 updates ›

NHS England 'wants what is best for Ashya King'

NHS England "wants what is best" for terminally ill Ashya King, 5, and does offer funding for proton beam therapy - the treatment the boy's father sought after taking him out of a Southampton hospital.

We all want what is best for Ashya, and it is for the cancer doctors and oncologists involved to advise on what is the best treatment for each child.

Where doctors recommend it, the NHS does fund proton beam therapy, including supporting 99 children last year to travel abroad for treatment.

– NHS England spokeswoman

More on this story