A MUM who lost a High Court life-support fight centred on her 12-year-old son has welcomed a report into the care of critically ill children. 

Hollie Dance found Archie Battersbee unconscious at their home in Southend on April 7 2022.

The youngster suffered brain damage and died in August after a High Court judge ruled that ending life support treatment was in his best interests.

Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, thought he was brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interests.

But Ms Dance battled to keep her son alive and endured days in court during the "devasting process". 

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) has published a 45-page report outlining steps the government should take to improve how disagreements in the care of critically ill children are managed.

The review calls for families to be provided with more guidance on how to raise concerns with their child’s treating team, on how to seek second opinions and how to access emotional and practical support.

However, Ms Dance, along with Anna Firth, MP for Southend West, still believes the report “could, and should” go further to help parents.

This comes after Ms Firth first lobbied health secretary, Steve Barclay MP, to trigger an independent review of the care of critically ill children following Archie's death.

Ms Dance said: “I welcome many of the findings in the report. The roundtable discussion regarding the court process is really good and I am pleased to see that parents will have more notice of court proceedings and an automatic right to see their child’s medical notes and to legal aid. 

“In a position where you do not trust the doctors, you really need the time and space to gather the materials you need and proper notice of court proceedings which are very, very daunting.

“I also really welcome the NCOB recommendation on provisions for a second opinion which we were denied in Archie’s case. 

“I want to take the lessons of my case forward for everyone.”

The review, which was conducted over the course of 10 months, recommends that a new government taskforce be set up alongside a Ministry of Justice round table to focus on improving the experience families and healthcare professionals have of navigating disagreements both in the hospital setting and in Court.

Ms Firth added: “For parents such as Hollie, there many things that I welcome in this report, in particular, the commissioning of further research to gather more evidence from parents.

“I also welcome the fact that from 2025 legal aid will automatically be given to parents facing the withdrawal of life-sustaining from their child, and the tireless work of my colleague, Baroness Ilora Finlay, in securing the importance of pre-court mediation in these tragic cases.

“However, I do believe the report could, and should, go further.  Families must be given more time to come to terms with such a devastating situation before court proceedings are commenced."