A BATTLING Horwich family is celebrating after health bosses were forced to do a U-turn and pay for new treatment for their sons. Jan and Paul Hartley have three young sons suffering from haemophilia and until last week the boys were given a blood product which the Government now says poses a theoretical risk of new Variant CJD. Health authorities across the country have now been told they must make arrangements to ensure all children suffering from haemophila and under the age of 16 receive the synthetic blood product Recombitant Factor VIII.

For Jan and Paul and their children Tim, 14, Tom 11 and Matthew, eight, the decision marks a milestone in their battle.

Since 1996 the Hartleys and families with haemophilia across the North West have been fighting for their children's right to receive this product.

They believe that because the product is synthetically manufactured it poses far less risk of passing on infection than the human sourced products health authorities like Wigan and Bolton were funding.

At the family home in Snowdon Drive, Horwich, Jan said: "This Government directive confirms what we and other families across the region have argued about for a number of years."

Mike Ruane, Chief Executive of Wigan and Bolton Health Authority which in November 1996 took the decision not to fund Recombitant Factor VIII treatment for haemophiliancs, said: "As the Government has said there is only a theoretical risk of CJD but it has erred on the side of caution which is perfectly understandable.

"At present it costs the health authority £300,000 a year to fund the substitute blood product for haemophiliacs. We are now looking at a spend of £638,000 and we are waiting to hear if the Government is providing the extra cash."

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