A MUM fears her eight-year-old son will be confined to a wheelchair if new treatment is withdrawn through lack of funding.

Cerebral palsy sufferer James McGinley is testing a special lycra suit that enables him to play on the floor without dislocating his shoulders.

But James, of Warrys Close, Hythe, is likely to outgrow the suit within the next few months.

Now doctors have warned his mother Tracey that New Forest Primary Care Trust, which is almost £8m in the red, may be unable to fund a replacement.

Mrs McGinley fears James will end up in a wheelchair if he is denied a new suit.

She said: "Last year James started developing trouble with his shoulders. The ligaments had always been loose and it got to the point where he was always dislocating his shoulders. Nothing can be done surgically, but he has been able to trial a lycra suit provided free of charge.

"It's a really tight suit which keeps all his joints and limbs in place."

James is likely to outgrow the £400 suit by the end of the summer.

"Without a new one it wouldn't be safe for him to crawl about on the floor and he would have to use a wheelchair," added Mrs McGinley.

The family have already spent £70,000 on adapting their home for James and buying a car that can carry a wheelchair and are hoping the NHS will meet the cost of a new suit.

A trust spokesman said: "All applications for funding of this kind are assessed against strict eligibility criteria, and those that meet the criteria are considered by a panel made up of clinicians and trust managers."