Italy: One month-old with a serious heart condition is airlifted from NHS hospital to Rome

Rome: A one-month-old British boy with a serious heart condition has been airlifted to a hospital in Rome for treatment not available on the NHS.

The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, personally intervened to make sure the child could travel to Italy on a specially equipped military aircraft with medical professionals.

It is understood the infant was being treated for a congenital heart condition at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children when his parents, who have not been identified, were told the specialist treatment would not be possible in the UK.

His father, an Italian citizen, decided to appeal directly to Ms Meloni and her government for assistance who then worked closely with the family to allow their travel.

Following the appeal to Ms Meloni for help, events this week moved at lighting speed and by Tuesday the family were in Rome.

The family travelled from Bristol Royal Hospital to Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome on a specially modified ambulance which was then loaded onto a plane funded by the Italian government

The family travelled from Bristol Royal Hospital to Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome on a specially modified ambulance which was then loaded onto a plane funded by the Italian government

The family were preparing to start a legal battle with the hospital and had planned to apply to the High Court on Monday.

However, a long court battle was avoided after a deal was struck whereby the family would be flown to Rome on an aircraft funded by the Italian government.

The child was then promptly discharged and taken to an airport ten minutes away. A specially modified ambulance with the family onboard was then loaded onto the plane.

After arriving in Rome on Tuesday the baby was treated at the Vatican-funded Bambino Gesu children’s hospital where he underwent a double operation.

Speaking to The Times, the father thanked the Italian government for their help. He said: ‘My wife and I are very happy and relieved.’

He also thanked the doctors and nurses at Bristol Royal Hospital ‘for smoothly authorising and supporting us and our son through this process.’

Simone Pillon, the Italian lawyer representing the parents, said: ‘We are very pleased that we have been able to demonstrate to the UK that it is possible to work together and safely transfer children with serious medical conditions from the UK to Rome for specialist treatment.’

Mr Pillon was involved in the case of Indi Gregory last year.

Indi, who had an incurable genetic mitochondrial condition, was at the centre of a legal battle last year where her parents were involved in several High Court and Court of Appeal cases over life support treatment.

Ms Meloni got involved once again in this case and stepped in and made her a citizen in a last-minute legal bid to bring her to a Rome hospital for treatment.

But that attempt failed, and her parents Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth were told that her breathing tube would be removed.

She was moved from the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham (QMC) to a hospice where she died in the early hours of November 13 2023.

In a statement to The Times, a spokesperson for Bristol Royal Hospital said officials ‘worked with Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital to support the safe transfer of a newborn patient to Rome. Due to patient confidentiality, it would not be appropriate to go into specific details regarding a patient’s care.’