Are doctors failing children in the NHS?

Over the last 5 years the NHS has seen its fair share of controversy and criticism especially after failing to notice the injuries to the young baby p, which eventually lead to his death.

Doctors have always claimed they are overworked and they make mistakes because of this but many people refuse to accept this.

Elle Bingham, 13, from London, had a horrific experience at a hospital accident and emergency recently, “I was in school and an accident occurred which left me thinking I had broke my hand, after my mum took me to the hospital I was sent home because the doctor said he was certain my hand wasn’t broken.”

Elle was playing a game of rounders in her PE lesson, she bumped into another pupil and fell over landing on her hand, the school sent her home and her mother Tracy Bingham took her to their local childrens accident and emergency.

“Her hand was really swollen and I could see she was clearly in a lot of pain, after the doctor sent her home the swelling didn’t come down so the next day her sister took her back to the hospital and demanded an x-ray, which revealed she had broken her hand in two places and may now possibly need surgery to fix it. I’m really angry and am considering contacting PALS, because this doctor clearly shouldn’t be making these decisions.”

PALS, the patient advice and liaison service, is a confidential company who deal with complaints of misconduct and medical accidents that could have been prevented with the right treatment or care, you can contact them through the hospital or through their website, or by clicking here.

Elle who now has her hand in a splint is currently attending physiotherapy for her hand, waiting to see if she is going to have to miss her holiday booked for May this year, to have surgery on her hand.

This isn’t the first incident, recently Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary had to apologise to the families of 11 babies and one mother who all died as a result of incorrect care in a maternity unit in Furness General Hospital, Barrow.

After an investigation it was revealed that between 2004 and 2013, midwives were complications, Hunt described the deaths as ‘unnecessary’ and compared the tragedy to the mid staffs hospital scandal in which at least 12,000 patients died due to poor care.

Miss Bingham, said, “This is totally unacceptable, people are putting their trust in these people and our children aren’t getting the proper care they deserve, I am shocked, one doctor even told my daughter it couldn’t be broken because she wasn’t crying in pain, something needs to be done, because the way things are aren’t working.”

A spokeswoman for PALS, said, “I agree that this isn’t ok, and if Miss Bingham wants to take this further we would be happy to assist her in any way possible, unfortunately all the good things hospitals are doing get overlooked by these horrible instances, I was always told one bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch, and one doctor making a mistake shouldn’t reflect on the service as a whole.”