Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is making provisions for families who cannot afford to access cannabis medication via private healthcare for children with epilepsy after being refused treatment by the NHS.

The Department does not make provision for the funding of medicines outside of the National Health Service (NHS) commissioning systems. NHS funding decisions follow clearly developed procedures that ensure equitable distribution of funding, prioritising those medicines that have proved their safety, quality, and clinical and cost effectiveness.

The licensed cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex is prescribed routinely on the NHS for Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (two forms of epilepsy). The cost of treatments, that have not been assessed for their quality, safety, clinical and cost effectiveness, sought privately, remains the responsibility of patients.