'Health visitors have failed my daughter' (From Gazette Series)

'Health visitors have failed my daughter'

A DURSLEY mother has accused health visitors of failing her daughter when she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy more than two years after a problem was first suspected.

Abigail Bolton's daughter Amelia Bolton-Harris, who turned three in June, was diagnosed with a brain injury after an MRI scan last week.

But Miss Bolton says that she had been trying to tell health visitors from the May Lane surgery and Sandpits clinic that something was wrong within the first year of her daughter's life.

She said: "The signs were always there. She couldn't eat solids until she was one-and-a-half and she couldn't walk or even crawl properly.

"The health visitors should have picked up on this, but for two years they kept saying that there might be a problem and they'd see about it in six months time. "There was no sign of her getting any better and last week we were told that they had this in mind all along.

"Why didn't they do the brain scan two years ago?"

Although the nature of the injury means that it still would have occurred because it happens before or at birth, an earlier detection would have made life for Amelia a lot easier.

Her condition means that she has no control over her legs so they have not developed correctly.

But Miss Bolton says the corrective treatment and physiotherapy will be far more difficult and far more painful to carry out on a three-year-old than it would be on a younger child.

She added: "Her legs are bent the wrong way so we have to force them into a splint and that is going to be very painful.

"If this had been detected earlier then the splint would have worked much more easily and Amelia would not have had to go through half as much pain."

The family has also been upset by what they were made to think before the correct diagnosis was made.

Miss Bolton said: "Amelia is a very confident and very bright little girl and I am angry that I have been told up until now that she was just lazy.

"My whole family is absolutely gutted. We didn't expect this. When I first heard the news I was absolutely all over the place, but now I am just angry."

The Cotswold and Vale Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for health visitors in the area, would not comment on the individual case, but did release a statement.

Alison Melton, lead commissioner for children's services at the trust, said: "We are very grateful to the Gazette for contacting us about Miss Bolton and her daughter as we aim to provide the best quality care for children in the area.

"I would encourage Miss Bolton to get in touch with either our Patient Advice and Liaison Service or the trust as we would very much like to address her concerns."

However, Miss Bolton is now concentrating her efforts to see if she can raise enough money to get her daughter into a private clinic and has warned other parents not to fall into the same trap as herself.

She added: "There must be lots of people who are in a situation like mine. If you think there is something wrong, for God's sake do something about it."

BLOB Anyone who has a concern about any healthcare issue can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service on 01242 242156. Ann Griffiths, the trust's clinical governance manager, is also contactable on 01453 562003.