Some of the trickiest problems we come across relate to getting hold of expensive experimental or relatively new treatments for constituents with rare diseases or illnesses where drug effectiveness has not yet been fully proven.

In recent months that has included assisting the family of young Hornchurch resident, Isla Caton, who was sadly diagnosed last year with neuroblastoma, a particularly vicious form of childhood cancer. Isla has been receiving treatment at Great Ormond Street but her family have been campaigning to raise the money to take her to the United States to receive the Bivalent vaccine.

This month I met representatives from a UK pharmaceutical company who hope to bring that treatment to Britain so that children like Isla might not have to travel abroad. They now need to secure approval for the treatment from NICE, the medicines body responsible for making decisions on what patients can receive on the NHS.

To bring attention to this issue, I raised Isla's case in Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon. I asked the Prime Minister if she could help encourage NICE and the drugs company to come to a deal that would see new treatments provided for children here rather than families having to fundraise to go to the States. 

Finding solutions to tricky healthcare problems, whether long or short term, can be difficult but my team and I do the best we can to support those constituents who ask for our help.

To read more about Isla's case, click here.