A two-year-old was left unable to eat solid foods for three days because of delays in treating a badly-cut lip, his mum has said.
Charlotte Astle said her son Bradley cut his face while playing at a park in Chaddesden at lunchtime on Tuesday, November 9, Derbyshire Live reports.
The panicked mum-of-two called an ambulance as the cut was bleeding badly, but whisked him to A&E herself after being told the toddler would have to wait two hours before a paramedic became available.
Charlotte, 26, who also has a three-year-old son Joshua, said: "At Sussex Circus Park there are four or five wooden blocks for children to play on, and his brother climbed up one, so Bradley copied him, climbed up another and just fell.
"I was close, I was just getting my phone out of my pocket to take a picture.
"I thought a two-hour wait was pretty disgusting, for a two-year-old, so I took myself. There was no way I was waiting for two hours."
Once at the Royal Derby Hospital (RDH) Bradley and his mum were told he'd need surgery to fix the wound on his face, and was told to come back the following day.
After arriving at the hospital at 7.30am the next day, Charlotte hoped her little boy would be seen soon, but was kept waiting until 2pm before his mouth could be stitched.
But disaster struck again after Bradley's stitches fell out less than 24 hours later, sending them back to the hospital where they had to wait for another five hours to be seen.
During that time Bradley, who also broke his leg in June, was listed as "nil-by-mouth" in the hope that surgery could be performed that evening.
They went home again before returning at 7:30am on Friday, November 12, but did not go home until around 4pm following a second, successful procedure.
Bradley is now on the mend but is only allowed soft foods and the family has been told that another procedure would not be performed if the stitches came out again.
Charlotte, who has had to take three days away from her job as a care assistant to care for her son, said: "I feel better now as the stitches have stayed in for longer than 24 hours. Bradley seems OK but he has been waking up in the night, but that's because the stitches hurt so I have been giving him medicine.
"I was sad at first - I have rung 111 before, when Bradley had a high temperature, and they have sent an ambulance straight away. But when his mouth is pouring with is blood, they didn't come straight away, so that made me think, 'what on earth?'. He is two years old.
"I would like an apology for the long wait, and I feel we should be making children the priority. Covid has been around for a long time, so children should start coming first again."
The RDH is one of five hospitals managed by the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.
It has a has a dedicated Children’s Emergency Department that provides urgent care and assessments for children and young people.
In a statement, a spokesperson said that when a child arrives at the department, they are initially seen by a triage (first assessment) nurse, who is able to assess their illness or injury and then refer them to a specialist clinician within the hospital, such as a a maxillofacial (face) specialist or another, more appropriate service.
However, the Children’s Emergency Department at the hospital has seen a 140% increase in demand compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Dr Magnus Harrison, executive medical director at the Royal Derby Hospital, said: “We’re sorry to hear the concerns that Bradley’s family have raised about the care their son received at Royal Derby Hospital.
"We would very much welcome the opportunity to speak to Bradley’s family directly about this, so we have reached out to them to discuss their experiences and what we could’ve done differently.”
Charlotte confirmed the hospital had since contacted her to discuss the incident, but she said she decided against meeting them to discuss their concerns as an apology was sufficient.
