Frenchay Hosptial

You may have heard by now that their is somewhere in the UK where children do receive free treatment on the NHS for Plagiocephaly. Frenchay Hosptial in Bristol. I contacted the Hosptial to verify this information and to ask what criteria they have established for determining if a child should receive NHS treatment. Below are the email responses from the Consultant.

From: Kristian Aquilina

Date: 10 January 2011 17:40:55 GMT

Subject: Treatment for plagiocephaly

Dear Ms Okanay,

Thank you very much for your email. Nitin Patel passed your message on to me as I am one of the paediatric consultants in the department.

I can confirm that we do see children with plagiocephaly on the NHS and we offer them free NHS treatment. The hospital tariff cost for the helmet, which includes a brief anaesthetic to mould the helmet, is £660.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if I there is anything else I can do.

Yours sincerely,

Kristian Aquilina FRCS(SN)

Consultant paediatric neurosurgeon

Department of Neurosurgery

Frenchay Hospital

Bristol.

North Bristol NHS Trust - www.nbt.nhs.uk

Dear Mr Aquilina,

Thank you so much for your reply. I do have one more question if I may, can you let me know what criteria you use to determine if a child should be treated with the helmet / band? I.e. do you use the same system as the private clinics? They told us with regards to asymmetry that it is generally accepted that 0 - 6 mm asymmetry is normal, 6 - 12mm is considered a moderate deformity and anything above 12mm is considered severe. With regards to Cephalic ratio 78% is normal with a standard deviation of 5.5% being normal. Anything over 89% or 2 standard deviations was considered severe. Just wondering if this is in line with your policy for treating babies with plagiocephaly?

From: Kristian Aquilina

Date: 18 January 2011 15:05:42 GMT

Subject: RE: Treatment for plagiocephaly

Dear Ms Okanay,

Apologies for the delay getting back to you.

We do not use any craniometric criteria. We decide whether to offer the helmet or not on the basis of a full discussion with the parents; we discuss their level of concern on their child's cosmetic appearance, their expectations,and the possible complications and results we have had from our helmet. Of course we do get plain skull x-rays and sometimes even a CT scan to make sure that we are not missing a 'real' craniosynostosis.

Does this help?

Thanks and best wishes,

Kristian.