Health officials in Wales have been accused of letting young people who have cerebral palsy “suffer unnecessarily” by failing to offer funds for surgery which could help with mobility.

This is even though many English patients receive support from the NHS for the procedure.

Families in Wales have been forced to find almost £60,000 to fund Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), which helps many children who are not mobile to walk for the first time.

Many English hospitals have started to offer the pioneering treatment and a large proportion of the operations have been given NHS funding.

However, Welsh families have not been given funding from the public as health officials have refused to support the surgery, claiming there is not enough “clinical evidence” for it.

This decision conflicts with the verdict of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Innovation, which says the operation can help with limb spasticity in the long-run.

Almost 60 Welsh children have been denied funds for the surgery, according to WalesOnline, which has forced families into raising large amounts of money to pay for the treatment.

Those children in Wales who have had the operations said their parents joined together at a Cardiff weekend fundraiser to show the procedure’s benefits.

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