Seven years ago, my son Alfie Dingley helped change the law and with it, hope for thousands of families across the UK.

In 2018, after a long fight, Alfie became the first child to receive an NHS prescription for medicinal cannabis to treat his severe epilepsy. His doctors were granted the first permanent Schedule One licence, and when the law changed that November, we believed this would open access for others.

But it didn’t.

Since then, just three children in the UK have received an NHS prescription. Every other family has been left to fund treatment privately often at huge personal cost, or forced to turn to unregulated products out of desperation.

Today, 35,000 children in the UK live with uncontrolled seizures. Many could benefit from this treatment, but are denied the chance.

Alfie has now been seizure-free for over five years, transforming his life and ours. This treatment works, yet without government action, it remains out of reach for almost everyone else.

As Co-founder and Chair of Medcan Family Foundation, I’m calling for urgent government action through our 5-Point Manifesto for Fair Access:

1. Guidance – NICE must urgently update guidance to reflect successful cases and give doctors clarity to prescribe.
2. Education – Establish a national programme to support clinicians with unbiased education and mentoring.
3. Cost – Fund research to show how NHS access can improve outcomes and reduce costs long term.
4. Evidence – Invest in innovation and adaptive clinical trials to speed progress and better reflect real patient benefit.
5. Supply – Fast-track UK cultivation and streamline imports to secure supply and lower costs.

To coincide with this campaign, we’ve launched our new film, ALL TOLD — featuring four mothers sharing the realities of caring for children with drug-resistant epilepsy, and how cannabis-based medicines have transformed their children’s lives but remain blocked by the NHS.
(Watch the film on our YouTube channel below.)

Access to life-changing medicine shouldn’t depend on who can pay.

The government must act now to support innovation, reduce inequality, and give families hope.
Every child deserves the chance to live seizure-free.

Sign the petition. Share Alfie’s story. Watch ALL TOLD.
Together, we can change the future for 35,000 children.
— Hannah Deacon, Co-founder & Chair, Medcan Family Foundation