Hemel Hempstead MP calls on Prime Minister to end medical cannabis bureaucratic nightmare

Sir Mike Penning asked the PM in Prime Minister's Questions yesterday (Wednesday)
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The MP for Hemel Hempstead has called on the Prime Minister to take action to enable children who have been prescribed medical cannabis to get their prescriptions paid for by the NHS.

Speaking in Prime Minister's Questions yesterday (Wednesday), long-time campaigner for the issue of access to prescribed medical cannabis, Sir Mike Penning called on the Prime Minister to use the political will that exists to bring this long-standing saga to a close.

A number of these seriously ill children, with a rare form of epilepsy that results in them having over a hundred seizures a week, have been prescribed medical cannabis which has dramatic effects and enables them to lead a relatively normal life.

Sir Mike Penning speaking in PMQs on Wednesday (C) parliamentlive.tvSir Mike Penning speaking in PMQs on Wednesday (C) parliamentlive.tv
Sir Mike Penning speaking in PMQs on Wednesday (C) parliamentlive.tv

However, due to a bureaucratic complication where the responsibility for this moved from the Home Office to the Department for Health, the majority of them are unable to get these prescriptions filled on the NHS.

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Sir Mike took the opportunity of winning a question in the weekly lottery for Prime Minister’s Questions to ask the PM to resolve this mess which is costing the families involved hundreds of pounds a month.

Speaking afterwards, Sir Mike said: “This is a bureaucratic nightmare. These seriously ill children have had their medication prescribed by a consultant and yet the NHS is refusing to pay.

"This is costing these families a lot of money and heartache. We must sort this out, it cannot go on indefinitely!”