Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the regional consistency of treatment where children who have experienced potentially irreversible brain injury are able to receive ventilation at home after a tracheotomy.

There are no current plans to make such an assessment.

NHS England directly commissions services for the care of long-term ventilated children, up to 90 days post the fit for discharge date. This includes children who are ventilated through tracheostomy. Clinical commissioning groups are generally responsible for commissioning home ventilation services for children and decide, on an individual basis, what particular package of care should be put in place for the child in question, in conjunction with local services, education and housing as appropriate. A decision as to whether ventilation at home after a tracheotomy is appropriate for children who have experienced irreversible brain injury will be made on the basis of each individual case and is likely to involve difficult decision making around the efficacy of ongoing care and whether continuing treatment is in the child’s best interests.