Britain’s sickest children have been beaten in the ‘intolerable’ postcode lottery by NHS pediatric radiologists, according to the report.

The report says some of the sickest children in Britain have been abandoned due to the ‘excruciating’ lottery of radiologists, putting them at greater risk of invasive surgery.

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has said too few children have access to life-saving pediatric interventional radiology (PIR), with only 12 such consultants in the UK, equivalent to one child in a million, and just five outside London.

Pediatric interventional radiologists are specialists who can provide minimally invasive, high-quality treatment for cancer and many other conditions, including sepsis, where the infection is drained through an opening instead of open surgery. Cancer patients and patients with multiple complex medical needs such as a feeding tube also rely on PIR.

Benefits include significant risk reduction for many lifesaving procedures, shorter hospital stays, faster recovery times, and financial savings for the NHS. For children, minimally invasive pinhole procedures and shorter hospital stays mean a less painful experience, less time spent at school, and for parents, less time at work, minimal scarring, and preservation of organs that should remain in good condition for decades.

Great Ormond Street Hospital London (GOSH) performs 3,100 PIR procedures annually, with 1,100 at Leeds Children’s Hospital and 750 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. However, due to the lack of PIR consultants, children in need of these procedures often have to stay at the local hospital until they are referred to a specialized unit (time permitting). Invasive surgery is often the only option.

The main path to PIR specialization is through radiology, but the shortage of radiologists remains large, at 29 percent, experts say. There are only two fully funded specialized PIR apprenticeships in the UK, three others offer some exposure to PIR, although not all are open to these apprentices in the four countries.

“Interventional radiology has been a lifeline for my daughter”

Seven-year-old Abby Bright suffered a stroke in the womb, became blind, and suffers from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which occurs when stomach acid constantly enters the tube connecting the mouth and stomach.

Thanks to PIR, she underwent gastrojejunostomy, a surgical procedure in which part of the stomach is connected to the jejunum – the middle part of the small intestine – so that she can be fed right at night through a “button”. Otherwise, she would have been fed through her nose through a tube, which, due to her condition, would have taken up most of the day and severely limited her life.

“With all of Abby’s health issues, nothing can enter her stomach without causing her chronic acid reflux,” her mother shared with Fran. I. “Then it would have entered her lungs, which is why she has a chronic lung disease. It’s something we learned in her youth that she can’t have anything safe in her stomach.

“The GOSH surgeon said we should opt for a gastrojejunostomy and the only way to do that is through interventional radiology and the only place to do that is Great Ormond Street. It’s the only thing that keeps my daughter safe and healthy. It would be hell for Abby if I couldn’t pull it off.”

Abby had infections and needed treatment at her local hospital in Colchester, but since there is no PIR service, she had to wait a week for a place at GOSH to have her jejunum inserted. that would be great, but it’s not,” Fran said.

“My husband works long hours at Gatwick airport, we have three kids and it usually takes two to get Abby to GOSH and we have to make sure the other kids are looked after. So it’s hard. We are so grateful that Great Ormond Street is not that far away. If Abby had not had the PIR procedure, she would have suffered. For a child like Abby, having interventional radiology relatively close makes a significant difference in quality of life.

Catherine Holliday, MD, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said: I: “For some of our sickest children, like Abby, pediatric interventional radiology can be a lifeline, providing minimally invasive treatment and reducing hospital stays. But very few children whose lives could be improved by these life-changing treatments simply don’t have access to them. We urge the government to pay attention to this: this is highly effective and low-cost aid that urgently needs funding.

The RCR said little has changed since 2010, when it published a report with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health highlighting the lack of precautions and calling for significant improvements to PIR.

The new RCR report, due to be published on Wednesday in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital, is currently under review. Isays: “In the decade since publication, many of these problems and obstacles have remained, and the 2010 recommendations have hardly changed.”

The 2019 NHS Long Term Plan foresees the development of pediatric care networks and recognizes the need for all patients to have access to the right care at the right time. But at present, the design of national policy and the structure of regional service delivery limits that commitment, the radiologists say.

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The latest RCR report calls on the government and NHS England to adopt their recommendations, including expanding PIR capacity and developing a national gold standard of care that requires all hospitals providing pediatric services to have a clear PIR directive.

Dr. Alex Barnacle, Great Ormond Street Consultant Pediatric Interventional Radiologist and author of the report, said: “Calling anything a miracle cure comes with risks, but I have worked in pediatric interventional radiology for many years and have seen it heal or improve children’s lives. when all else fails This is one of the fastest growing areas of medicine, offering some of the most radical advances for adults and children alike, from the treatment of stroke in adults to the treatment of cancer in children.

“Interventional radiology is life changing and it is unbearable to realize that these procedures are not available to the vast majority of children in the UK. This problem is quite possible to solve, and I hope that the government and the National Health Service will take note of this.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said: “We are supporting the NHS with record funds to rebuild and improve services, including up to £14.1 billion for health and social care over the next two years. The NHS will soon release a long-term workforce plan to ensure that the right number of employees with the right skills are available to transform and deliver high-quality and sustainable services.”