A BABY who was gasping for breath had to wait 12 hours to see a specialist doctor because of a shortage of children's hospital beds in Greater Manchester.
Lyndsay Stubley took her 10-week-old son Shakeel to Hope Hospital in Salford, where an accident and emergency doctor thought he was suffering from the potentially fatal chest infection bronchiolitus.
However, there were no beds for Shakeel at Hope and none at two other hospitals in Manchester.
After a three-hour search a bed was found at the Royal Bolton Hospital where, after being transferred by ambulance, nurses monitored his condition.
A children's doctor first arrived to check on Shakeel seven hours later, but within seconds he was called away to a more urgent case so he was not examined until the specialist returned two hours later - 12 hours after he was first taken to Hope Hospital.
Delay
The delay came during a major review of children's and maternity services across Greater Manchester.
Single mum Lyndsay, 24, who lives in Salford, said: "After a quick assessment at Hope I was told Shakeel needed specialist care.
"We eventually ended up waiting 12 hours for a paediatrician to examine him.
"I was going out of my mind with worry because he was gasping for breath and staff at Hope had told me he might have a serious chest infection.
"I understand that there were more serious cases, but there should have been a doctor available to see Shakeel too.
"The doctors at Hope said he needed to be checked by an expert and I'm really shocked that took so long. The nurses did look in on him but it's not the same - if that was all he needed we could have stayed at Hope Hospital."
Hope Hospital claimed they were unable to admit Shakeel because they do not provide the in-patient children's care he needed. The nearest children's wards at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Booth Hall were both full so he was sent to Bolton, where the children's ward was also very busy.
Condition
Shakeel was diagnosed with bronchiolitus, a flu-type virus, but his condition did not worsen, as doctors had feared, and he was sent home the next day.
The review of children's services follows claims by health bosses that there are not enough trained staff to run all the services available. They claim that by closing some services they will be able to provide a more reliable service and prevent incidents like this happening.
A spokesman for Bolton Hospitals Trust apologised for the delay in treating Shakeel, but said nurses would have raised the alarm if his condition had deteriorated.
He said: "A baby or child who is seen at the A&E is assessed there by a doctor and a judgement made about what care or treatment is necessary. If the patient cannot be admitted to that hospital, the assessment and care notes are passed on to the hospital the child is transferred to.
"Ideally a new admission would also be checked in by a doctor straight away, but at busy times there may be a delay while the doctor treats the most urgent cases. This is what happened in this instance."
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"Single mum from Salford" there's something you dont hear very often
Flossie love you live in 'Stockport' dont embarrass yourself by trying to slate the single mums of salford.... if you cant keep stupid comments to yourself the zip the mouth eh?
Hope does not have inpatient paed beds other than its neonatal service which is a damned shame as it is a fantastic hospital unfortunately with young babies/childrens parents do tend to panic hence all the overnight stays in hospital - and before you all start i too have young children and have done exactly the same thing. Now im more experienced as a mum i can look back (and even thought it at the time) i cold have done that at home but at the same time that is why we have an A&E and at the end of the day if its your children you don't take chances so even if it is nothing i would say get it checked but the point being that this puts enourmous pressure on the hospitals which is why long waits happen. Nursing staff are more than capable of looking after poorly children/babies x hope Shakeel is much better now Lyndsay x
no single mums in reddish then ???? , , most single mums dont choose to be single ..... or do all single mums live in salford , i dont think so........
Nice One Flossie!
Come on everyone, you know damn well that there are a lot of single mums, some have genuine reason to be on their own and they work very hard and raise decent families, this young lady in the story most probably is one of them, but, you all know that there are the other type of single mums, the ones that "fall pregnant " as they say.. like they have tripped off a kerb onto an erect penis, they seem to do it about 4 or five times with different dads who dont take any responsibility for their offspring. But never mind, if you are all happy with that and dont mind paying for them, then I will keep my thoughts to myself..
All previous comments are stupid!!
This is not about whether this women is a single parent or not its about the fact her child needed hospital treatment and they were all full you idiots!!
Most parents do not panic either, most people I know dont like making a fuss.
Unfortunatley when my two year old was really poorly last year I thought he just had a stomach bug and waited days before going to the doctors for this very reason, then when the doctor saw him we had to go straight to hospital and he was in for a week on a drip and antibiotics just lying there withdrawn.
Now they are also trying to close maternity and paediatrics at my local hospital (Tameside) and trying to make us go to stockport or St Marys.
This is along way to go in an emergency even in our cars.
Ridiculous what do we pay taxes for!!!
Im no idiot JOJO if you had read my comment properly you would have understood what i was saying!! painful as it is after your outburst i do agree with what you are saying about the local services for children and the whole 'making it better' consultation should be looking at providing MORE services not stripping them down as they are trying to do with Hope and indeed Tameside.
Well JOJO YOU idiot, if less money was being wasted on benefits for all the malingerers, there may just be a bit of extra money left in the pot to help the NHS
and you wonder why JOJO calls ppl idiots Mary? your comments are pathetic, uncalled for and irrelavent to the point - this isnt about malingerers this is about services available to sick kiddies
There is only so much money in the pot, which is from taxation, if LESS was paid out in benefits etc to idle malingerers, there would be MORE money in the pot to go to the NHS. So JOJO and ME if someone is waiting 12 hours to have treatment that is because there isnt enough money to pay the wages for staff.
This child could have died and all you can do is bicker about whether she was a single mom or not. Let's get to the real reason--socialized health care.
Why do people always have to try and take the comments away from what the story is actually about, no where in the news item does it state this girl is a single mum, so why just as she is from Salford does it mean she is a single mum?? No i am not stupid and know that there a lot of single mums in Manchester in general, but get a grip, there are some decent men and women around!!
I took my daughter to Stepping Hill hospital recently and was made to wait 4 hours before she was eventually sent home with nothing but a dose of infant paracetamol. Whilst I was there the doctor assumed I was an over-reacting single mother, as I was dressed in a track suit, despite my wedding ring glaring at her. I live in Hattersley which is known to be a large council estate. My Husband and I own our house and both work. Assumptions make an ass out of everyone. My daughter was admitted the following day with a serious infection because I would not sit down and be judged. This story is about a lack of NHS staff not who is single or not!