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Finlay pictured at home. He was eventually seen after three months
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Agony wait for mum
by Emilene Coventry26/ 3/2008
A MUM is furious that a new hospital booking system meant it took nearly three months to book a vital brain scan for her baby son.
Laura McDermott was desperate for answers after one-year-old Finlay started to suffer seizures regularly.
He eventually needed resuscitation after drugs used to control the fitting stopped his heart.
"I was scared to death," said Laura, 24."Every time he went quiet I thought it was starting again. The doctors kept telling me it was normal for his age because his body temperature couldn’t regulate itself."
Her GP booked her an appointment for a brain scan at Bury General in January using the ‘choose and book’ system.
The new electronic referral system is supposed to let patients choose the best hospital – rather than just the nearest – for treatment and just one point of contact so they do not have to make numerous phone calls. But at the last minute the appointment was cancelled.
Further appointments at Royal Bolton Hospital and Pendlebury Children’s Hospital were also cancelled because staff there said she needed to be referred by a consultant rather than her GP.
In the meantime little Finlay had another seizure. Desperate, his mum telephoned the choose and book line again and demanded another appointment immediately but with no joy.
Laura, of Jeffreys Drive, Dukinfield, has since received an apology and Finlay finally had his scan at Tameside a week ago.
"We were frantic. I was sat there with a child of 22 months and no one was telling me what was wrong. All in all I spent about 10 days solid on the phone to different people and I ended up doing a 130-mile round trip only to end up going to the hospital nearest to me.
"If any of my kids needed a referral again and choose and book was my only option I’d rather pay privately to get it done."
Medics think Finlay may have a hole in his heart, which is stopping oxygen getting to his brain and causing the fits.
Wendy Russell, speaking for Tameside and Glossop primary care trust, said Miss McDermott’s experience was an "isolated" case.
"For most patients and GPs the system works really well," she said. She said part of the problem was that some of the information on the choose and book system had been inaccurate.
"We’re in the process of contacting all the hospitals in Greater Manchester to clarify the position. We need to find out on what basis they would accept a referral, whether it’s from a consultant or a GP."
Most recent 2 of 2 user comments
Well done Tameside for getting him seen !!!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Finlay !!! Regards Dennis the Menace
1/04/2008 at 01:26
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