Vitamin care centre may be re-opened

Families of children formerly treated in the vitamin B12 unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, have been told they have two weeks to make new representations in a bid to get the centre re-opened.

The hospital has decided to review the evidence rather than run the risk of legal action which could have cost it up to pounds 100,000.

The vitamin B12 unit, the only one in Britain, was run by Dr Ray Bhatt with charitable funding for 13 years until December 1995 when money ran out. The hospital was asked to continue the work, which linked autism and other neuro-developmental disorders to a treatable vitamin B12 deficiency. The hospital questioned its value, saying Dr Bhatt had failed to submit it to proper scientific review.