A one-year-old girl nearly lost her life to sepsis after her mum waited eight hours to speak to a doctor before rushing into the surgery demanding to be seen.
Rachael Pedrick became worried about her daughter Holly when she came down with flu-like symptoms at their home in Wales just before Christmas.
The youngster had ‘sticky eyes ‘and was suffering vomiting and diarrhoea,Wales Onlinereports.
Rachael rang a GP surgery on December (************************************************, but was not given an appointment .
She was told she would have to wait for a doctor to call her back.
“After eight hours I was still waiting”, she said.
“In the end I went to the doctor’s myself, walked into the doctor’s room and the doctor ran straight over to her, checked her over and said she needs to go to Prince Charles as soon as possible.”
***
Holly had an operation to drain an abscess from behind her eye.
Holly spent the night at the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr.
She was then transferred to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on Christmas Eve.
Medics at the hospital found she had contracted sepsis and skin infection cellulitis.
She had an operation to drain an abscess from behind her eye.
Rachael, (**************************************************, from Aberdare said: “They had to cut through her nose to get to her eye. I was panicking.
“It was the longest two hours of my life. She was out of it for four days, lifeless. I couldn’t pick her up because she was attached to loads of things. She was in and out. I don’t know what was going through my head. It’s talked about more than it used to be but it did cross my mind that it could be sepsis. “
“They had to cut through her nose to get to her eye. I was panicking “*** Holly spent Christmas in hospital . Once she has finished her medication, Holly is expected to make a full recovery.
It was only after they returned home that Rachael realized how dangerous the situation had been.
Now, she wants to share her story to warn others.
Rachael, who is also mum to son Oscar, said: “The hospital staff phoned me and said If I hadn’t taken her to the doctor’s then she would be dead. I was frantic. I knew it was serious but not how serious until I had the phone call. If I didn’t take her in she wouldn’t be running around now. “
Holly had ‘sticky eyes’ and was suffering vomiting and diarrhoea.
A spokeswoman for the surgery. said: “We cannot comment on individual cases, but can provide assurance that the practice of offering appointments is taken very seriously, particularly concerning young children.
“If a staff member receiving a call has any concerns based on the information provided, then it is standard practice to advise that the child be seen by a GP and subsequently to offer an appointment, which patients (or patient representatives) can then choose whether to accept or not.
“We would encourage anyone with a concern about services to get in touch directly so we can listen to and discuss any issues.”
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