Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide sedation services at all NHS Trust for children and young people with phobias to needles.
The use of sedation services is a matter of clinical judgement. Training in engaging children and young people forms the basis of training in all paediatric specialties, for all grades of staff. Clinicians are trained to approach a child or young person in a sensitive, skilled and friendly manner and crucially, make a judgement as to how any procedure or treatment will be administered in the best interest of the child. Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on patients’ clinical needs.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence provides guidance on using sedation for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This covers the assessment, preparation, training and monitoring needed when using sedation in people aged under 19. This guidance can be found at the following link: