A five-year-old was left traumatised, bleeding and in severe pain after a physician associate wrongly prescribed her a vaginal pessary, according to a damning report by the health ombudsman. The parliamentary and health service ombudsman said there were “multiple failures” in the care of the girl, who saw a physician associate (PA) at a GP practice in the East Midlands after complaining of itching and vaginal discharge. The PA suspected thrush and recommended a vaginal pessary and cream. The five-year-old’s mother, who believed her daughter was being seen by a GP, questioned the treatment and the size of the pessary, but was reassured that it was appropriate.
PAs do not have prescribing rights and their work must be supervised by a doctor who approves the prescription. But the ombudsman found there was no discussion between the PA and GP before the GP authorised the prescription, even though vaginal pessaries are not suitable for prepubescent children and the girl’s symptoms were consistent with vulvovaginitis, not thrush. There was also no questioning of the prescription by the pharmacy that dispensed it.
And then, to compound the error, sicced social services on the mother to prevent complaints:
The mother said that after inserting the pessary, her daughter began to bleed and scream in pain, while the cream burned the girl’s skin. She took her to see an out-of-hours doctor. However, the girl was so distressed and in pain that she asked the doctor not to examine her internally, causing the GP to raise concerns about possible sexual abuse and to contact safeguarding services.
The whole rotton edifice of the NHS needs tearing down.
She said: “I had huge guilt for doing what the PA, who I thought was a GP, told me and feeling as if I had inflicted this trauma on my daughter.
“But I trusted what [they] told me. How are we meant to trust healthcare professionals now?”
You never were in the first place, hasn't the mutiple breachs of trust told you that long before this happened?
The ombudsman said it recommended the GP pay the mother £1,000 and the pharmacy pay £500 and that both organisations had to take action to ensure this did not happen again.
Pitiful, and what would ensure this doesn't happen again would be the sacking of all involved.
