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'My baby will suffer – why won't NHS help?'
A CASH-STRAPPED single mum has pleaded with hospital bosses to stump up the cash for a helmet to help correct her baby's flattened head – and stop strangers' cruel stares.
A CASH-STRAPPED single mum has pleaded with hospital bosses to stump up the cash for a helmet to help correct her baby's flattened head – and stop strangers' cruel stares.Five-month old Ethan Taylor has a condition, called deformational plagiocephaly, or flathead syndrome – and needs to go to regular physio sessions to stretch the muscles in his neck.
But his mum Julia believes a cranial helmet, which she heard about from his physiotherapist, will be the best treatment for her son.
It has to be worn for about six months and gentle pressure helps to remould the baby's head.
However, the 2,000 price tag is far too steep for Miss Taylor, of Wildlake, Orton Malborne, Peterborough and health trusts don't routinely prescribe them.
She said: "He needs it because he has a flat head and we are running out of time every day.
"He needs to have it before he is a year old and the bones fuse.
"But I am a single parent on benefits and am struggling.
"I wouldn't be able to afford 2,000.
"I don't know why the NHS has to make poor people suffer and my baby will suffer, especially when he is older."
She said the thought of him being bullied at school was spurring her on to do something to help Ethan.
Miss Taylor, who is also mum to Melissa (5), said: "It is on the front and has moved all his hairline. It's definitely noticeable.
"Two to three weeks after he was born, his head started to go a funny shape.
"I went to the doctors, but they kept saying it would improve and wouldn't refer me to anyone else.
"I told my health visitor and she referred me.
"It is mainly cosmetic, but he struggles to turn his head to the side.
"Other babies have had a complete recovery with the helmet. The earlier it is used, the more chance there is of a complete recovery.
"When he goes to school with a massive bald spot, kids will be mean. I want to save him the torture and stop people staring."
Today, a spokeswoman for NHS Peterborough said the use of specialist helmets for the treatment of plagiocephaly was not standard practice within the NHS and was not routinely commissioned by primary care trusts.
She added: "In the absence of NHS guidelines on their application, NHS Peterborough reviews each request through its Exceptional Cases panel on an individual case by case basis.
"To date, NHS Peterborough has not funded an application for specialist helmets for the treatment of plagiocephaly as there has been no specialist clinical support for these individual applications.
"Clinical support would need to come, for example, from an NHS consultant paediatrician."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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