A mum who pays £840 a month for cannabis medicine to treat her son has claimed the family’s GP has been blocked from prescribing the drug on the NHS.
Lisa Quarrell, 38, has accused health officials and the Scottish Government of “moving the goalposts” over covering the cost of seven-year-old Cole’s
treatment.
She said she has just two months of savings left to pay privately for epilepsy drug Bedrolite, which has transformed her boy’s life.
Medical guidelines – published by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) – earlier this month should allow Cole to get Bedrolite on an NHS prescription, Lisa claims.
The former police officer had previously risked jail when she began smuggling in medicinal cannabis from the Netherlands to treat Cole, who suffers seizures.
But after it was legalised, a private doctor in London has been prescribing Bedrolite to Cole since March, resulting in him being seizure-free for more than 230 days.
NICE’s new “shared care” guidelines say after an initial prescription by a doctor, cannabis-based medicine can subsequently be prescribed by
the NHS.
And mum-of-two Lisa, from East Kilbride, says her GP has been keen to take over the costly burden, which she says is now “unsustainable”.
But the doctor has been blocked by her health board, NHS Lanarkshire, which says the NICE guidance does not cover Scotland.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told her last month that the NICE guidelines would see a Scottish equivalent drafted up “if appropriate”.
In a moving letter sent to Freeman, Lisa says Bedrolite has led to a “remarkable transformation” of Cole’s life.
She said: “I don’t have to repeat to you what it costs us every month just to keep Cole alive, which is now becoming unsustainable.
“I am being lied to. My son’s prescription for Bedrolite medicine is actively being blocked.
“You will continue to move the goalposts every time I find an access route to an NHS prescription for Cole.
“While you all continue to play a political version of pass the parcel, I’m left to pick up the pieces of your failings.
“What chance do me and my son have when you all keep changing the rules to suit yourselves?”
Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “Lisa is to be commended for her fight. She is following the facts and it seems the goalposts are being moved.
The fact GPs and clinicians are being undermined by bureaucratic decisions is frustrating.”
Bernie McCreadie, of Medicinal Cannabis Reform Scotland, said: “Doctors want to help their patients with the use of medicinal cannabis in Scotland but they’re being blocked by NHS boards and the Scottish Government.”
NICE’s guidance is only legal in England and Wales but can be binding in Scotland and is often replicated here.
Christine Gilmour, director of pharmacy for NHS Lanarkshire, said: “We are aware of the recent NICE guidelines published in England on the use of cannabis-based products.
We await advice following the chief pharmaceutical officer’s dialogue with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.”
Healthcare Improvement Scotland said: “The guideline published around the use of cannabis-based products, as with all other advice from NICE, will be of use to clinicians in Scotland in informing the best care for their patients but has no formal status.”
