South Yorkshire parents call for better access to medicinal cannabis
They say it's hard to manage their children's health conditions without it
South Yorkshire families say they're still waiting for access to life-changing medicinal cannabis - two years after it was legalised.
The treatments, which can help children with certain medical conditions, were meant to be available on prescription last year. They include things like CBD oil.
A Barnsley dad is among those wanting to see the prescriptions made more widely available to people who need them.
Michael Atwal-Brice, who has two sons with epilepsy, believes it could help relieve their seizures: "They suffer seizures through the night time. It is really difficult to mange when they are uncontrollable and you're having to call ambulances out and give rescue medications all the time - especially when you know there are treatments available. They are just not being made available to families like ours.
"We assumed we would have access to all these different treatments but it has just not happened at all. The government is just not supporting it and the clinicians are scared to prescribe it, so two years later we are in the same situation as we were before."
Michael says it is distressing and difficult to see them have seizures, and constantly fears his sons will be hospitalised.
"Afterwards they are just exhausted. It can knock them out for a whole day," he said.
He is pushing for the cannabis treatment to be made more accessible.
"We need access as soon as possible to help improve the quality of the boys' lives - especially when they have had the condition for over a decade and nothing else has helped.
"You pray for a miracle. You just want to try these new treatments that are available - but the NHS just isn't willing to prescribe them."
The government say they sympathise with parents dealing with challenging conditions - and say the decision on whether to prescribe medicinal cannabis is one for clinicians