Child ward ‘refused to treat’ young boy

ANGRY . . . Joanne and Jason Walker-Lloyd with son Billy

AN angry father claims that children’s ward staff at the Royal Oldham Hospital refused to treat his three-year-old son.

Jason Walker-Lloyd phoned the NHS helpline when Billy, who has a condition which causes his bowel to block, became distressed.

It then contacted the local out-of-hours service Go to Doc and Mr Walker-Lloyd says a GP told him to take Billy to ward F3 at the Royal Oldham, where staff would be expecting them.

However, when they arrived, they would not to admit his son.

Mr Walker-Lloyd (36), of Lower Lime Road, Limeside, regularly treats Billy at home by washing out his system with saline.

But on this occasion he needed glycerine to help.

He eventually took Billy to the Manchester Children’s Hospital where staff allowed him to carry out the procedure himself.

They arrived after midnight on November 11 — around four hours after the initial call — and Mr Lloyd-Walker said: “I am upset. It is the fact that Oldham refused to take a three-year-old child which is disgusting.

“He was crying. I could tell he was bunged up. When he was straining he was going red. On this occasion I needed an extra bit of glycerine to get him going.”

Billy was diagnosed with an imperforate anus — in which the rectum is malformed — as a baby and is due to have exploratory surgery at Manchester Children’s Hospital in January. Mr Walker-Lloyd, who also has two daughters and a 10-month-old grandson, has contacted the patient advice and liaison service (PALS) with his concerns

He added: “When Billy was five weeks old his organs started shutting down because he was poisoning himself. Now we always err on the side of caution.

“I have now had the patient advice service on to me. They said I was told to take Billy to A&E which is not the case. They seem to be running around blaming each other.”

A spokesman for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital said: “We take all complaints seriously and we would like to apologise for any distress caused to Mr Walker-Lloyd and his son.

“Although we haven’t received a formal complaint from Mr Walker-Lloyd, the incident is currently being investigated by our patient advice and liaison service (PALS) and ward manager as a priority to clarify the facts and ascertain what advice was given and what actually happened following the referral by the GP out of hours service.”