to think that this GP should be struck off

[atheistmantis]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-39095656

A five-year-old girl died of an asthma attack after being turned away by a GP because she arrived minutes late for her appointment.

That's horrendous. Poor, poor little girl and her family.

OMG. YANBU. That is disgusting.
One minute cost this beautiful little child her whole life. All because of some jobs worth power tripping
'coz I can " twunt.
RIP Ellie-May

Is there not a petition for this. It needs a huge public tantrum. Who else will die at her power thriving hands.

Devastating, the GP acted without regard, how I wish the Mum had realised the seriousness and taken her straight to A&E

RIP Ellie-May

Terrible. Made worse by the GP lying saying they had already moved onto the next pateient when in fact they hadn't. she definitely needs more of a consequence.
I think this story just goes to show that if you know that your child is so unwell and the GP is not available, you must not hesitate with A&E. I almost died when I was 8 with a severe asthma attack after my own mum wouldn't take me to hospital during the night. I have always remembered being scared I was going to die and my mum has regretted it ever since and didn't hesitate in future.
This poor girl and her family.

I suspect there is more to this than can be reported in the media. The GMC hearing was done in private which is very unusual and there has to be a good reason for it. Also the GMC are notoriously heavy handed, there must be something we aren't being told. Terribly sad though.

Her "punishment" was a fucking 6 month paid holiday. This world is a farcicle

It's always straight to A&E - they have the right equipment etc

Did the doctor not advise her to call an ambulance?

There must be a back story to this that the media are not reporting.

Surely a GP won't throw out an appointment due to the person arriving at the surgery 4 minutes late? Really?

So sad - brittle asthma needs to be taken very seriously.
The facts of the case are not clear ,but I think the fact she was an emergency appointment is very concerning. I think the GP was very wrong to turn her away and the poor mother obviously didn't feel she could kick up a fuss.
A tragedy .

Tragic for the little girl but can't help wondering why the mum didn't take her to A&E? Presumably that is all the GP could have done anyway?

That is awful, too sad
Condolences to the family

I am sure as I can be that there will be more to the story than reported in that article though.

I think there must be more to this too. I can't imagine a GP would turn a young asthmatic child away because they were 4 minutes late if they were aware of the seriousness of the child's symptoms.

If a parent has concerns about their child's breathing, especially if they have asthma and a history of serious hospital admissions then A&E should be the port of call.

A very sad story, my thoughts go out to the family

This is terribly sad I think there could be more to this too. If the doctor really did turn her away knowing she was currently suffering an acute asthma attack then that is disgusting but could it have been she just turned up and was told she had missed her appointment and they left not knowing how serious the asthma attack was?

I have faced quite a bit of incompetence and bad behaviour from some health professionals but even I am shocked by this. How horrific. I'm apalled. That poor child an dher family. I hope a big fuss is kicked up over this.

IamFriedSpam That is very probable but asthma should not be messed around with as it can get worse suddenly. Any doctor knows that

It sounds like she had an attack at school and probably used her inhalers, so might not have appeared too unwell at the surgery -but had another bad attack in the evening.
I'm not sure how long ago this was but it sounds like the mother may not have had clear instructions what to do if her child's asthma deteriorated .

I was technically 10 minutes late for my GP appointment on Friday. I was actually 5 minutes early but there was only one receptionist and she was dealing with registering a new family with the practice and having to answer the phones. Luckily our GPs are very understanding anyway (they would rather you be late than a no show) but I would have been fuming if I had been turned away.

Poor little girl and her family. These are the types of cases where I wish the family felt they could go straight to a&e.

I don't know about most surgeries but ours has oxygen available for patients so if a patient presents with an asthma attack then they can be given help whilst waiting for the ambulance; there are tanks in some of the GP appointment rooms.

It's appalling, I get the impression that sometimes asthma and probably other medical conditions aren't taken as seriously as they should be because of a lack of awareness but there is no way that should happen at a GP surgery.

As I said earlier anyone who has booked an emergency appointment should not be turned away unless the doctor is completely sure it can safely be seen the following day.
This obviously was not the case in a child with a history of severe asthma.

Asthma should always be taken seriously. This is such a sad case.

The article states that the Dr had form for turning away any patient that arrived late for an appointment:

"The Serious Concern report also said reception staff were afraid of Dr Rowe, who was known for "repeated angry outbursts".

It says: "There is a consensus that Dr Rowe is unapproachable and volatile. Many staff reported being afraid to challenge her decisions or seek a second opinion from one of the other doctors."

The report concludes that it was Dr Rowe's usual practice to refuse to see patients who arrived late for either routine or emergency appointments."

Shocking behaviour from a professional, particularly when she was supposed to be the child safeguarding-lead within the practice.

I imagine the child wasn't having an asthma attack though seeing as the mom then took her daughter home when the doctor wouldn't see her. I'm pretty sure the mother would have called an ambulance if her daughter was having an asthma attack in light of how seriously ill she'd been in the past. I'm assuming the child was in a relatively well condition seeing as the mother accepted the decision to take her home and bring her back the next morning, if the mom had serious concerns about her daughter then I imagine she would have gone to A&E.

The report says the child died five hours after being turned away from the GP surgery and she couldn't have been evidently getting worse in that time frame as otherwise surely the mother would have called an ambulance at some point before it reached the point of her having a seizure and stopping breathing?

It also says the school first phoned the mom in the morning yet if the mom was happy to wait until 5pm to see a doctor then the little girl couldn't have been acutely too unwell as again, I would assume the mother would have gone to A&E if she thought quicker medical attention was needed.

I think there are a lot of details we aren't being told, there's a lot of room for speculation and like most things this probably isn't as black and white as it appears.

I don't think anyone for one minute is trying to blame her poor mother