'Trauma' of late-night hospital switch for sick baby
- Published
Kenzie was suffering from respiratory problems
A West Lothian mother has told of the "traumatic" experience of being forced to take her child to Edinburgh late at night for emergency hospital treatment.
Mary MacKenzie brought 11-month-old son Kenzie to A&E at St John's Hospital in Livingston suffering from a high temperature and heart rate.
With no 24-hour children's ward at St John's, it took three hours for them to be moved to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh.
They were later discharged, without transport available, at 23:00.
Mrs MacKenzie is now campaigning for the paediatric ward at St John's to be fully reopened "so no other child or parent has to go through what we did".
Staffing shortages mean the St John's children's unit has not been accepting new patients at night since last July.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told MSPs on Thursday that the ward at the West Lothian hospital would not fully re-open until "adequate and safe levels of staffing" are established.
Mrs MacKenzie said: "Sending my son home at 11 o'clock at night (from Edinburgh) is really out of order. I thought they would have at least kept him in overnight.
"The journey home was terrible - there were people who had been drinking on the bus, the wee man was restless, he was really tired. I just wanted to get him home, nice and warm and back to his bed.
"It's ridiculous that we have to travel up to Edinburgh, with no transport, to get backwards and forwards to see sick kids.
"There are babies younger than Kenzie who could have this kind of problem - or even worse."
Mary MacKenzie has called for the unit at St John's to be fully reopened
Mrs MacKenzie told how she noticed her son was unwell early in the morning on 5 September.
She tried to have him seen by their GP later in the day but the local surgery was closed.
Mrs MacKenzie phoned NHS 24 for advice before deciding to take Kenzie to A&E.
She said: "The doctor saw him and his heart rate was 211 and his temperature was 39.1.
"They decided to get him transferred to the Sick Kids hospital to see if he needed more tests."
After waiting an hour for an ambulance to become available, Mrs MacKenzie said the doctor eventually decided to make a 999 call.
The family were finally transferred to Edinburgh where more tests were done before staff said Kenzie's temperature and heart rate had dropped.
'Really dark'
Mrs MacKenzie said: "He was checked by the doctor and he said, he's fine - it's just a respiratory problem he's got, we'll send him back home.
"We weren't told if we could get a taxi or anything like that, although the hospital has now apologised and said we should have been entitled."
Mrs MacKenzie wants other parents to join with her in fighting for the paediatric ward at St John's to be reopened.
She said: "I want to see the service back to the way it was years ago.
"t was a great ward then and I want to see it back that way, with nurses and doctors all looking after the children.
"I just want the NHS to get off their backsides and do something. It's like they don't care."