A doctor who helped save Boris Johnson's life when he was in intensive care with Covid has urged him to help ventilator patients facing skyrocketing energy bills.

       Prof Nick Hart, one of the doctors after whom Mr Johnson named his son, is appealing for extra NHS funding after the mother of a tracheostomy patient who requires 22 hours ventilation a day was told her energy bill would hit ￡5,000 this year.

       Gas and electricity bills are set to increase by at least 50 per cent when the energy price cap rise comes in next month.

       On Monday, Prof Hart, who is director of respiratory and critical care medicine at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, where Mr Johnson was treated in April 2020, tweeted the plight of Vincenzo Randazzo, 23, from Woking in Surrey and described a "crisis on the horizon".

       After being flooded with messages, he posted: "I request @BorisJohnson gives due consideration to help the most vulnerable people who require home ventilation to survive."

       ‘Something has got to give’

       Vincenzo's mother Maria said: "Our energy cost ￡1,500 last year, now it is estimated to be ￡5,000. Many families are in the same position as us. Something has got to give – this is life-saving equipment, so it should be funded by the NHS."

       While the cost of oxygen is reimbursed through providers such as Air Liquide, there is no such payment system for home-ventilated patients who may or may not be receiving oxygen.

       In France, ventilators are supplied and managed by a home care provider, with utility bills reimbursed.

       James Taylor, from the disability charity Scope, said: "These disabled families are going to be plunged into debt and it's going to have a devastating effect on their lives. We are already seeing about two million disabled people in fuel poverty and we are worried that is going to go up and up. Government help is needed now."

       Disabled people can ask their energy company for special dispensation and apply for the warm homes discount and one-off grants, but Mr Taylor said: "None of these programmes are well publicised, and even with their help it's barely going to scratch the surface."