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.

A spokesman for NHS England said: "Our thoughts are with Ashya and his family as he begins follow-on radiotherapy.

"Now that Ashya is in Prague, it is clearly best that Ashya continues to be treated uninterrupted so the NHS has agreed to fund this care, as requested by his parents, in accordance with relevant European cross-border arrangements.

"We all join in wishing him well, and greatly hope he makes a full and successful recovery."

The head of a scrutiny panel which was investigating Portsmouth City Council's handling of the Ashya King case has resigned.

Conservative councillor Alistair Thompson stepped down after claiming council officers were being blocked from taking part in his review.

The authority became involved in the case after being granted a High Court order making it the boy's legal guardian after his parents took him from Southampton General Hospital to Spain last month.

The order was subsequently lifted and Ashya's parents were allowed to take him to Prague for proton therapy treatment for his brain tumour, which is not available on the NHS.

Mr Thompson told the Portsmouth News: "The council officers were not allowed in any shape or form to be involved in the review.

"That, in my mind, makes my position as the head of scrutiny of the panel void. We need to check that we obeyed the rules and applied them correctly."

A second review by the independent Portsmouth Local Safeguarding Children Board (PSCB) is ongoing.

Five-year-old Ashya King is set to start a proton therapy treatment plan in the Czech Republic to help him beat brain cancer.

His parents Brett and Nagmeh King sparked an international police pursuit after they removed Ashya from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' permission in a bid to take him abroad for the specialist treatment, which is not available on the NHS.

The Proton Therapy Centre (PTC) in Prague released a schedule for the first day of the youngster's treatment for a brain tumour, which will see him leave the University Hospital Motol this morning and then undergo irradiation.

The father of Ashya King has claimed British doctors warned the family not to question his treatment or they would "take him away until he was 16".

Brett King told the Daily Mirror doctors at Southampton General Hospital told him they would "take my son away" if he questioned them over the five-year-old's treatment for brain cancer.

“Eleven years without us, he wouldn’t know his parents, his brothers, his sisters or anyone. We couldn’t question them any more," Mr King said.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust declined to issue an official statement, the newspaper added.

Ashya's father Brett King described his incarceration as "torture" for the five-year-old.

Mr King and his wife were in jail for five days while Ashya was in Spain, but he said their discomfort was nothing compared to anyone who had cancer.

Mr King said Ashya is still traumatised after the enforced separation: "Every time I say goodbye to him, he starts to cry: 'will I see you tomorrow?' sort of thing," he added.

• Read more: Ashya King could begin proton treatment 'as early as Monday'

Mr King also told media waiting outside the Proton Treatment Center in Prague that he is concerned about what authorities will say when his other children do not attend school in the UK.

Most of the King family remains in Spain.

Ashya King could start proton treatment as early as Monday, the Proton Therapy Center in Prague has said.

In a statement the centre said that the five-year-old had been fitted with a special treatment mask today as well as undergoing a series of tests.

• Watch: What is proton therapy?

Ashya King has arrived at the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague for his first consultation.

He was admitted to University Hospital Motol in the Czech capital, but arrived at the proton centre this morning via ambulance.

• Watch: What is proton therapy?

The centre has previously said: "Little Ashya is coming to PTC on September 9 at 8am for the first consultation and examination."

Brett King says he has "complete confidence" in the treatment offered at the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague where his five-year-old son Ashya has been transferred for specialist help to fight a brain tumour.

Speaking to ITV News while touring the centre and meeting doctors to discuss treatment options, Mr King said he believed the treatment would give Ashya the best chance of a full recovery.

Five-year-old Ashya King will have his first consultation and examination tomorrow morning at the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague where he has been moved for specialist treatment.

Ashya, who has a brain tumour, arrived in the Czech capital today after travelling from a hospital in Malaga in Spain.