Mum slams NHS over delays in tot's treatment at Luton and Dunstable Hospital after week-long battle to get aid

The three-year-old has been left with a scar on her knee following an operation for an infection in her knee.

Sophie Dimon had first noticed Sasha was under the weather on June 1 and by that Thursday was refusing to walk. She took her to paramedics at the Jubilee village fete in Caddington on Friday, who thought it could have been a bite, prescribed antihistamines and told Sophie to take her to A&E if she did not improve.

By Saturday though the tot was in so much pain she was refusing to walk and was taken to A&E. After a five-hour wait Sophie says she was told it was a virus from the chicken pox Sasha was recovering from, and to come back if she got worse.

Sophie said: “Tuesday I decided enough was enough and first thing in the morning I took her back into A&E. She still wasn’t walking, still just sitting on the sofa.

"We got to the hospital around 8.45am. Luckily we saw a different doctor, she got sent for X-rays, which showed some fluid behind the knee, people came and went and we finally got into a cubicle around 4pm. They told us she’ll be going up to the ward and they wanted to do an MRI, but they couldn’t fit her in that day as the MRI staff leave at 5pm.

"We got up to the ward about 5pm, we got left in our cubicle, no one came to tell me anything about who was on or the plans. Luckily I managed to get my daughter a sandwich and I found an area I could make tea and coffee and the toilets by myself.”

Sasha, who had to be sedated for the MRI, was kept without food all day on Wednesday before the family was told there would be no scan. On Thursday she spat out some of the sedation which meant they could not carry out a scan that day. She was finally operated on on Friday after a lump was found behind her knee – without a scan – and an incision and drainage was carried out on an infected lump. She was finally allowed home on Saturday.

But Sophie says the whole treatment has left her traumatised.

"My daughter was crying, she’s fed up, she wanted food, she wanted water,” she said of the delay.

“On the Thursday night she was getting night terrors and refusing the obs to be done. On the Saturday, I’m told we can go home, my daughter refuses to talk or look at anyone.

"My daughter, these last couple of days will not speak to others, she reverts back into herself not sure of anything. I’m lucky she’s so good with me and takes her medication as prescribed.

“But the NHS – I cannot get over their just doing nothing, of having only one doctor at A&E for the children that come in.

"Sasha is quite reserved in herself after it all, she didn't talk to anyone for days apart from me and my parents. I cried when I saw her leg and what they've done. The NHS is a joke.”

Paul Tisi, Medical Director at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said, “As we need to protect patient confidentiality at all times, we do not comment on individual cases. However we would urge this family to get in contact with us directly on 01582 497 990 or email [email protected] who will listen to their concerns and ensure these are looked into as a matter of priority.”