Probe after renal failure is diagnosed as a tummy bug
8:53am Thursday 9th February 2012 in Your Town
NHS chiefs in Bolton have launched an investigation into a mother’s claim that her toddler son’s renal failure was diagnosed as a tummy bug.
Laura Edwards says the wrong advice from an out-of-hours NHS service to give her threeyear- old fluids could have killed her son and has called on parents to trust their instincts when their child is sick.
But NHS Bolton has defended the service and stressed that patients are asked to call back if they see no improvement following initial advice.
Mother-of-five Ms Edwards says she was told by an operator that three-year-old Logan Williamson-Edwards had a stomach bug and did not meet the “red flag” criteria to see a doctor. The worried mother decided to take her son to the Royal Bolton Hospital but just a few hours later, he had been transferred to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where he was diagnosed with endstage renal failure.
Ms Edwards, of Farnworth, said she was told by doctors that had she followed the out-of-hours operator’s advice to give Logan fluids, he would have died.
Medical experts say if patients suffering from end-stage renal failure take on more fluid, it could lead to their death as the kidney cannot expel it and this puts pressure on other other organs.
Now, 31-year-old Ms Edwards wants to warn other parents to follow their instincts if their child is sick.
She said: “She just thought he had a stomach bug, and I was saying ‘he’s really not well’.
“If I had listened and kept up the fluids, he would have been dead, it would have killed him.
“I think if there is a problem with your child, then just take him to hospital — listen to your own heart,” she said. Ms Edwards said she had used the out-of-hours service for her other children when they had minor ailments such as tonsillitis, and had always been told to see a doctor.
But following the incident with Logan, she said: “They can’t tell you what is wrong with your child if they can’t see him.
“I just think it is disgusting putting children into flag categories like that.”
Logan was rushed to hospital on June 3 and, for the first few days, the family did not know if he was going to survive.
The toddler spent six weeks in hospital and has had three operations.
He needs 12 hours dialysis each day and is currently on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.
A spokesman for Bolton Primary Care Trust confirmed the incident was being investigated.
But Jan Hutchinson, director of Public Health for NHS Bolton, added: “The out-of -hours service is the correct place for patients to seek advice and treatment in the first instance where they have an urgent need that cannot wait until they see their GP the next day.
“In deciding the appropriate response to meet individual patient’s needs, the out-of -hours GPs ask a series of questions to be able to make a clinical decision about the best way to provide care.
“This could be by giving telephone advice, seeing patients face-to-face or, where necessary, if it is considered an emergency, refer patients to A&E.
“Patients are asked to call back if there has been no improvement.”
Doctors who dealt with the case said they were unable to speak about specific patients.
