NHS Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board v OQD & Anor

Facts

OQD suffered a very serious assault in late 2013 which caused hypoxic brain damage. He was admitted to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability in April 2014, moving from its Brain Injury Service to its Specialist Nursing Home in December 2014, and has remained in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness throughout the twelve years since, his neurological condition unchanged. Dr A, a consultant in neurorehabilitation at the hospital, considers him to have been in a vegetative state since the injury. He has been funded by NHS Continuing Healthcare since December 2014, the ICB conducting annual reviews of his care package. No consideration was given between 2014 and November 2021 to whether continuing Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration was in his best interests. Discussions with the family began in summer 2022, were paused while his mother was terminally ill and after her death in September 2022, reopened in February 2023, and paused again in summer 2024 when OQD was not expected to survive an infection. At a face-to-face meeting on 25 March 2025 it emerged there was no family consensus; the ICB was notified the following day, Professor Wade was instructed on 18 September 2025, and the application to withdraw CANH was made on 22 January 2026. In a first judgment, [2026] EWCOP 16, Mrs Justice Lieven decided the substantive best interests question; this further judgment addresses delay.