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Boy, 4, endured 100-mile dash to hospital after doctors allegedly failed to spot he had shingles

Linda Selvey with her son Robbie
Linda Selvey with her son Robbie

A mother is endured a 100-mile mercy dash with her four-year-old son after a Highland hospital allegedly failed to spot he had shingles.

Linda Selvey claims little Robbie Smith was sent away with two suppositories after arriving at Oban’s Lorn and Islands Hospital screaming, with a temperature and agonising stomach pains on Tuesday.

The situation worsened last night, she said, when his own doctor diagnosed him with a secondary infection.

She alleges that it was only when she drove home to Aviemore and took him to the out-of-hours service at midnight on Tuesday, by which time welts had appeared all over his chest, that he was diagnosed with shingles.

Ms Selvey said: “I’ve to bring him back to the doctor tomorrow and if he is no better he will have to go to Raigmore and be put on an intravenous drip. This is 48 hours after Oban didn’t want to see him.

“I am furious.”

Shingles is a viral infection which appears as a rash. It is more common in adults.

The 37-year-old mother, was on holiday near Oban with Robbie and his brother Jamie, nine, when Robbie took ill.

She said: “I carried him in because he was crying, screaming in pain.

“He had a sore tummy, he wasn’t eating, was heavy eyed. They thought it was because he hadn’t been to the toilet for a few days. The hospital wouldn’t listen to me. I said I thought there was something else wrong with him. It was utter contempt I was treated with.

“The nurse was sharp with me. I felt like I was being treated like an over-anxious parent.”

Ms Selvey said it is now thought Robbie contracted the virus because he had a weakened immune system, following the stress of having to move home after a blaze destroyed their house in Carrbridge in October last year.

She took Robbie to Connel surgery on Tuesday, where the doctor sent them to hospital. She said: “A surgeon came and saw him, felt his tummy and said it wasn’t appendicitis. They said to give him a couple of suppositories, he was constipated. I thought they would do more than that.”

She took Robbie back to the caravan where he became more distressed. She phoned the hospital when a nurse allegedly told her to bring him back in “if she must”. Ms Selvey said: “They are supposed to get the medication for shingles within 72 hours to help reduce pain. The joint pain can continue for months. If I had stayed at the caravan last night it would have been outwith 72 hours.

“I am definitely making an official complaint.

“I feel if they had taken the time to properly examine him they would have realised there was more to it than constipation.”

A spokesman for the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership said: “If anyone is dissatisfied with the treatment received at the hospital then we would ask them to contact our Feedback Team.”