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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.

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Head of panel investigating Ashya King case resigns

Ashya after being reunited with his parents Brett and Naghemeh. Credit: Family hand out

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.

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