The mother of an epileptic boy who requires cannabis-based medicine to control his potentially deadly seizures has pleaded with the Home Office to allow her son home with his treatment.
Charlotte Caldwell, mother of 12-year-old Billy who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy, appealed on Facebook directly to the Home Office to allow her son to go home with his medicine.
Billy Caldwell’s supply of cannabis oil was seized when he and his mother arrived in London Heathrow Airport earlier this month.
Charlotte Caldwell, pictured, has appealed to the Home Office to allow her to bring her son Billy home to Northern Ireland along with his medicine
Mrs Caldwell released a video from her son’s room in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he receives his cannabis oil treatment
Shortly afterwards, Billy was rushed to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital when he suffered a major seizure after the effects of his medication wore off.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid used his powers to allow Billy access to his medication, but only if he remained in hospital.
In the video, Mrs Caldwell thanked the Home Office for their work so far, but asked for permission to return to County Tyrone with her son with his medication.
She said: ‘Good evening from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, we thought we’d give you a wee update. It’s Day 15, 15 days since my little boy Billy had his medicine confiscated at London Heathrow Airport.
‘On one hand, the Home Office returned his medicine, which we are truly grateful for, but they returned it on the basis that we remained institutionalised.
‘This is where myself and Billy are living which is a very cruel thing to do as they are keeping my little boy from his home environment.
‘I would plead to the Home Office to return my little boy’s medicine so we can go home, so I can take my son back to his own wee house and back to some sort of normal way of living.
‘I would also plead with the Home Office to also please to give access to the children who desperately need this medicine access to it as soon as possible. They need it urgently.’
The Government is considering authorising prescriptions for medical cannabis in ‘exceptional cases’ within the next two weeks.
Mrs Caldwell and her son are currently in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London
A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The Government has announced the establishment of an expert panel of clinicians to advise Ministers on any licence applications to prescribe cannabis-related medicinal products in exceptional cases where there is an unmet clinical need.
‘We are confident that this will ensure advice to Ministers on licensing in these cases is clinically led, based firmly upon medical evidence and that patients and their families have access to the most appropriate course of medical treatment as swiftly as possible.’
The Home Office said it would be possible for Billy to return to Northern Ireland if the senior clinician in his local hospital applied for a licence to dispense the medication.
Any doctor seeking a licence would have to be on the relevant specialist register to treat the condition. The application would also have to be signed by the hospital’s medical director ‘to ensure the proposed course of treatment is a safe and effective approach’.