Administrative Court defines “exceptionality” test and orders funding for treatment

S (a child) (By her father & litigation friend M) v NHS England Personal Injury Compensation Volume 32 Number 6, [2016] Med LR 329, [2016] EWHC 1395 (Admin), 15 June 2016

The High Court attempted to define the meaning of ‘exceptional clinical circumstances’ in the course of determining a challenge to NHS England’s refusal of an individual funding request (IFR). The claimant child suffered from narcolepsy and cataplexy, which had seriously affected her schoolwork and personal life. A drug had been developed which provided a real chance of enabling sufferers to live a normal life, but it was not recommended for children and NHS England had no general policy to fund it. Thus, the child’s IFRs based on exceptional clinical circumstances were all rejected.