The parents of an eight-year-old boy battling cancer have slammed NHS Surrey over a funding post code lottery for children’s cancer care.

Adam Bird, from The Green in Epsom and a pupil at Wallace Fields Junior School, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer, in July 2009.

After two years of unsuccessful intensive treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton a new treatment, immunotherapy, was recommended as Adam's next option.

Immunotherapy is currently only available in the UK in clinical trials, the first of which required a child to have had a stem cell transplant within nine months of diagnosis.

Based on this criteria Adam was rejected and his parents, Nick and Alison Bird, were told their only option was to travel to Germany at a cost of about £65,000 for treatment alone which NHS Surrey refused to fund.

But after starting treatment in August this year they were shocked to meet four UK families from Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, and Wales, whose children were undergoing the same treatment, funded by their primary care trusts.

Nick Bird said: "It's totally unacceptable for Adam to be treated differently to children from other parts of the UK.

“He shouldn’t be discriminated against simply because of where he lives."

Adam’s family instead fundraised for his treatment and have so far raised £425,000 since 2009 which has so far been used to fund treatment in Germany, and later will be used to fund treatment in America the cost of which can run into millions.

Mr Bird added: "We are fortunate to have had incredible support, both from the local community and beyond that has enabled us to fundraise for Adam's treatment.

“But money that’s been spent on treatment in Germany now isn't available to pay for further treatment Adam will almost certainly need."

"There may be other families in the same situation as ourselves, who can't raise the money, so their children won't get this potentially life-saving treatment.

“Above all though, it’s simply not right.”

The family have turned to Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell, who has taken up their case with NHS Surrey, and the Department of Health.

He said: “There’s a degree of confusion at the moment between the local PCT and Department of Health as to whether Adam’s entitled to funding.

“It’s a question of where the money is going to come from and who’s responsible as there is currently no mechanism for this treatment, which is fairly new.”

“What I’m trying to do is cut through the bureaucratic maze to get the support for him.

“We want to establish once and for all who is responsible for this.

“There always going to be a degree of local decision making but this is such as unusual set of circumstances that it’s not something that should be subject to a postcode lottery.”

Linda Honey, head of pharmaceutical commissioning at NHS Surrey said: “This specialist treatment is not routinely funded by the NHS and is currently only available in Germany.

“As we do not normally commission this treatment, requests for funding would be considered under our Individual Funding Request Policy and must demonstrate exceptional clinical circumstances to be put forward for review by the panel."

She added: “Where patients are receiving funding from other primary care trusts for treatment in Germany, these are local decisions which take into account individual circumstances.”

A second UK clinical trial, which will be led by a consultant and Great Ormond Street Hospital, is expected to start soon.