‘Untrained’ staff put my son’s life at risk
The family of a schoolboy in remission from leukaemia have slammed Hairmyres A&E after their son failed to get treatment for a potentially lifethreatening infection.
Mark Cannon, 11, from Strathaven – known as ‘Wee Mark’ – was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a very aggressive form of blood cancer, last August but against all the odds, pulled through.
This was despite his battle being fraught with a series of major complications including sepsis, multiple seizures, organ failure and even sight loss.
However, he had to be taken to Hairmyres earlier this month after his temperature soared to 39.4 degrees and he was later diagnosed with a chest infection.
After waiting for more than three hours for potentially lifesaving antibiotics to be administered, his worried parents, Sharlene and Mark, eventually drove him themselves to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
After his diagnosis last August, he spent six months in the Schiehallion children’s cancer ward there.
Mark’s family have now warned that the lives of child cancer patients “are being put at risk at Hairmyres A&E” and insist urgent action is needed to improve staff training.
They were told there was no one in Hairmyres A&E trained to administer antibiotics through the boy’s Hickman line – used, among other things, to give patients intravenous medication more easily and take samples for tests.
Furious mum Sharlene said: “Someone is going to die at that A&E due to lack of good patient processing procedures and poor training.
“An ambulance came recently after Mark’s temperature hit 39.4.
“The paramedics were lovely and we were taken to Hairmyres but three hours later were still waiting on him getting antibiotics.
“The reason – there were no staff at an A&E hospital trained in paediatric Hickman lines.
“An ambulance has to take a patient to the nearest A&E hospital, in our case Hairmyres – it could not bypass this A&E and take Mark to the children’s hospital.
“This rule needs to change as that is actually putting children like Mark in danger. We left Hairmyres as they tried and failed to get a canula in and due to Mark’s condition, we know it’s difficult to find a vein. He was upset and they added more stress to an already stressful situation.
“His dad and I drove him over to the Children’s Hospital in Glasgow so he could receive treatment four hours after we arrived at Hairmyres A&E.
“It’s a disgrace – he is not going near Hairmyres again. I’m so disgusted.
“The delay in Mark’s treatment is actually life or death – if he got sepsis he could have died due to their failings.”
And Sharlene also criticised hygiene practices at Hairmyres after she claimed a nurse failed to wear gloves, scratched her head and then touched Mark’s line, with the family having to wipe it down themselves with a disinfectant wipe.
Sharlene is still calling for answers as to why Mark was discharged last August after going to the East Kilbride A&E extremely unwell and gasping for breath after collapsing on his front step after the first day back at school.
“I have already complained about Hairmyres A&E department due to them sending Mark home the day he collapsed after a six-hour wait to be seen last August,” Sharlene went on.
“I was told he was ‘fine and good to go to school the next day’ by the doctor, only to be called an hour after returning home to be asked to come back and told our son had leukaemia.”
The mum added: “I am sure there are many dedicated and great staff in Hairmyres, however, if they do not get the right training, they are no use to kids needing intravenous drugs via a Hickman line.
“What’s the point in their A&E if staff are not given the much-needed skills required. We were told ‘we’re an adult hospital so don’t really deal with kids’.
“That cannot be the case – they are an A&E department for everyone – adults and children.”
Lise Axford, chief of nursing services at NHS Lanarkshire, said: “We are sorry that the family were unhappy with their child’s experience at University Hospital Hairmyres.
“There are staff on site that are trained in using Hickman lines that can be accessed to support our emergency department staff.
“This does not appear to have happened with this patient and we will address this through training for our emergency department staff to support any future patients attending our emergency department.”