A mother from South Ribble feels ‘completely abandoned’ after pushing for two years to get cannabis extract medication for her son.

Joanne Griffiths, 44, from South Ribble has been battling for most of her son’s life to get the medication he needs to deal with his seizures.

Ben Griffiths, 11, was born with a form of cerebal palsy which meant he was suffering up to 300 seizures a day.

A bill was passed two years ago which allowed cannabis extract medication to be prescribed to people, however Joanne is still waiting to get a prescription for Ben.

“He promised on the 5th of February he would leave no stone unturned within the next two weeks and we are still waiting,” said Joanne

“We are now nearly two years on from the law change. He has had two years to make he changes for our children but now we feel completely abandoned because he is just not helping.”

Joanne currently gets Bedrolite and Bedica, cannabis extract medications, shipped in from Holland to stop her son from suffering up to 100 seizures a day.

Two years after the family were told the medication would be made available on the NHS, they still haven’t been able to get Ben a prescription, leaving the family with no option but to spend over £2000 a month getting treatment shipped in from abroad.

During the lockdown, Joanne has struggled to get Ben’s Bedrolite and Bedica due to lockdown restrictions in both England and Holland and has had to reduce his doses, leaving Ben suffering more seizures.

“At the start of lockdown we were old by the department of health that they told us they couldn’t guarantee the borders wouldn’t close for us to get our medication.

“We have been able to get the medication thankfully but here have been delays in the time frame of how long it’s taking with the prescription.

The difficulty in gaining the medication has stemmed from restrictions in place in both England and Holland, meaning that Ben has suffered more seizures since the start of lockdown.

Ben also suffers from autism and is non-verbal which has meant coping during lockdown has been a very difficult adjustment.

"Its been very difficult, Ben is a very much an outgoing little boy and he likes to be outside a lot.

"We have got a sunken trampoline for Ben that we se to build up his legs so he has enjoyed being able to get out into the garden.

"We've been going out on walks and things like that but now with going back to school, because his whole routine has changed, he is finding it very difficult

"At the start of any changes with Ben he finds it very difficult at first then he gets used to it."

Joanne understands the threat that coronavirus has placed upon the world, however she believes that the government should have done more to work on other pressing health issues during the lockdown.

The family still have access to anti-seizure medication on prescription but it does not work for Ben and they have had to use inheritance funding to pay for the medication they say is essential to his life.

Chorley and South Ribble CCG have been contacted for comment however they are unable to comment on individual patient cases.