NURSERY TOT IN BRAIN BLEED SCARE
Medics rapped over errors
A CHILD was rushed to hospital during a family holiday after suffering a bleed on his brain due to errors in his care.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have been given a deadline to improve procedures for the treatment of children with head injuries following the incident.
The boy, who had hit his head at nursery, had to have emergency surgery overseas because he had not been properly assessed here.
A CHILD who was rushed to hospital during a family holiday suffered a bleed on his brain due to errors in his care in Glasgow, an inquiry found.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has been given a deadline to improve procedures for the treatment of children with head injuries following the incident. The little boy, who was under five, became “very ill” and had to undergo emergency surgery overseas because he had not been properly assessed by braininjury specialists.
The child, who has not been named, was taken to A&E after hitting his head at nursery. He was vomiting and sleepy.
His mother was particularly concerned because her son suffers from hydrocephalus, where there is a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the brain.
She explained to doctors that he had been fitted with a shunt in his brain, days after birth, to drain the excess fluid.
However, after being checked over the little boy was discharged from the former Yorkhill hospital on June 5, 2015, and then again the following day when his mum took him back to hospital.
A month later, during a family holiday, the child’s condition deteriorated and doctors discovered, after carrying out a CT scan, that his shunt had become dislodged. He was treated with emergency surgery and spent four days in hospital before returning to Scotland.
An inquiry by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman upheld a complaint by the family that the hospital had not provided a reasonable standard of care.
Health watchdogs were critical that despite “thoughtful and careful” assessments by doctors, the child had not been seen by a neurosurgeon or admitted to hospital and given a CT scan.
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: “We have today received the Ombudsman’s report and fully accept the recommendations. We have already put in place an agreed clinical pathway which includes specialist assessment via paediatric neurosurgery and this has been shared with appropriate staff. We have already apologised to the family but will be writing to them again reiterating our apologies.”