Girl dies after being turned away by doctor

LONDON: A five-year-old girl died after she was turned away from an emergency doctor’s appointment because she was 10 minutes late, an inquest was told.

Ellie-May Clark had life-threatening asthma and had an appointment with the doctor because she was wheezing and unable to walk.

She arrived at Grange Clinic in Newport, South Wales, for an appointment with Dr Joanne Rowe, a partner in the practice and its lead physician for child safeguarding.

Ellie-May and her mother, Shanice Clark, waited to see the receptionist and reached the front of the queue between 5.10pm and 5.18pm.

Rowe had a “10 minute rule” where she would not see patients who are more than 10 minutes after their appointments, and refused to see Ellie-May because she was late.

Clark said her daughter was wheezy when she collected her from school at 3pm on Jan 25, 2015.

She carried her crying daughter to her mother’s house and phoned the doctor’s office at 3.30pm to request a home visit.

A receptionist phoned back at 4.35pm and booked Ellie-May for an emergency appointment at 5pm – with Clark immediately warning that she might be late.

Clark, who also had an eightweek-old baby with her at the time, said she arrived at the surgery at 5.05pm and waited in line to speak to the receptionist.

Receptionist Ann Jones phoned Rowe but was told that Ellie-May had to return for an appointment in the morning because she was late.

The receptionist did not ask why Ellie-May was late for the appointment, nor about her condition, and did not give any advice on what to do if her condition worsened. – The Independent