Worthing mother claims doctor told her to stand outside with sick son (From The Argus)

Worthing mother claims doctor told her to stand outside with sick son

1:10pm Wednesday 6th April 2011 in News By Rebecca Evans

AN investigation has been launched after a mother said an out-of-hours GP refused to visit her sick toddler who had a temperature of 104.

Louise Jones said the doctor from out-of-hours service Harmoni told her “to stand outside” to cool her three-year-old son Tyler, who has a history of fitting.

Despite living in a second floor flat and not having a back garden, she claimed the GP said she should stand in the public corridor of the block at almost 2am.

Miss Jones’ family said her treatment was “disgusting” and vowed to make a formal complaint to Harmoni, which is contracted by NHS West Sussex.

The 36-year-old originally dialled 999 on Sunday at about 11.30pm after her son’s condition worsened.

Tyler has suffered from febrile convulsions since he was two years old, which are brought on by a high temperature, and there is also a history of epilepsy in the family.

Paramedics arrived at her home in Markwick Mews, Worthing, at about 1am.

They gave Tyler some Calpol and said he did not need to be taken into hospital but felt he should be seen by a GP.

After a call from paramedics the GP at Harmoni spoke with Miss Jones over the phone.

On Monday, the child was taken to see his regular doctor and was diagnosed with tonsillitis.

A Harmoni spokeswoman said: “We are very sorry that Ms Jones and Tyler found their experience of the out-of-hours service less than satisfactory.

“We received a complaint from Ms Jones directly and are now investigating her criticisms.

“This is an extensive piece of work which involves interviewing the staff who were on duty, listening to voice recordings of the phone call and reviewing the doctor’s consultation notes. Once our investigation has been completed, we will share the full report with Ms Jones.”