Worried mum claims she had to call a GP 161 times to get an appointment for her 11-year-old SON
Beauty therapist slams local surgery in Burnley for failing to answer call about lumps on the side of 11-year-old Kai's head
WORRIED Zoe Riley claims she had to call a GP 161 times to get an appointment for her son.
Beauty therapist Zoe, 35, rang about lumps on the side of 11-year-old Kai’s head.
But she says the surgery was constantly engaged.
She said: "If the appointment was for me, I would have thought ‘that's it’ and given up.
"It was so frustrating.
"When I first felt it on his head, you get that sinking feeling.
"They were weird bumps. It felt like there were three or four underneath the same area on the side of his head.
"As soon as you find lumps you just start to panic.
"Kai had spotted the lumps the night before on the side of his head then later on, he felt another one.
"He was worse than me - he was saying 'Mum I think I've got cancer'."
Zoe called Parkside surgery in Burnley, Lancs, the following morning on Monday as patients can ring up in the morning from 8am to check if there are any last-minute cancellations.
She said: "They say you have to ring up at 8am to get a booking that day so obviously you've got a million people all trying to ring up at once.
"I kept ringing back but it kept going to the engaged tone.
"It was just the fact everyone else was taking the appointments that day."
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She eventually got through to a receptionist but all the appointments were fully booked and had to wait until Tuesday for Kai to be seen and given steroid cream as a treatment.
Zoe added: "Luckily it wasn't anything major but you just panic don't you.
"The lumps were a skin infection due to producing too much oil.
"He has to use the cream twice and day and will go back to the doctor's in three weeks.
"They made that appointment for him after we saw the doctor."
The surgery received an overall “good” rating by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission last month.
The report said 76.3 per cent of patients found it easy to get through by phone compared to a CQC average of 71.1 per cent and national average of 73.3 per cent.
Parkside surgery did not comment.
