GP accused of turning away ill girls as mum didn’t speak English
ONE GIRL SUFFERS FROM A SEVERE HEALTH CONDITION
A BREATHLESS two-year-old with a serious health condition and her poorly four-year-old sister were allegedly turned away by a doctor because their Polish mother could not speak English.
The little girl suffers from Digeorge syndrome, a severe medical condition, which can cause heart defects, and had contracted a flu-like illness.
The auntie of the children’s mother, Klaudia Bak, 25, of Hull, claims that Marfleet Group Practice agreed she could translate for her niece over the phone at the appointment.
However, she claims that when her niece visited the practice, the doctor turned them away.
Both girls had high temperatures and flu-like symptoms and the youngest could not breathe.
She claims the family rang an ambulance, which did not come because the girls’ symptoms may have been Covid. So, she made a GP appointment at the Marfleet Group Practice on behalf of her niece.
When making the appointment, she claims she told the receptionist that her niece required a translator.
When her niece arrived at the surgery for the appointment, she was called in by a doctor and allegedly had Mrs Bak on a call on her phone.
But, Mrs Bak claims that the family were “kicked out” of the practice, because her niece only spoke Polish and the doctor could not understand her.
She claims that the doctor told Mrs Bak down the phone, “if you want to say something, come here.”
Mrs Bak said: “She was fuming, she was crying - it had never happened to her before and that was also the first time I heard something like that, a doctor not wanting to take care of the patients.”
Mrs Bak claims she then called the reception to ask why her niece was not given a translator and why she was not permitted to translate over the phone despite their agreement.
She claimed the reception staff replied: “The doctor is allowed to pick who he wants to take care of.”
Mrs Bak then accompanied her niece and her two young daughters to the practice after making an appointment for later that same day.
At the second appointment, when she challenged the doctor as to the reasons why he would not help the young children earlier, she claims the doctor said: “I don’t speak Polish. She doesn’t speak English. Next time just tell her to not come back.”
A spokeswoman for Marfleet Group Practice said: “We cannot comment on individual cases because of our duty of patient confidentiality. The practice treats all patients fairly including arranging interpreters for patients who need them.
“We encourage any patient with concerns to raise them with the practice via our complaints procedure to allow us to carry out a full investigation.”