AN angry father has won an apology from health bosses after he discovered an NHS unit providing child therapy had virtually no staff.

Nearly 200 South Durham children who need therapy to help them overcome developmental problems have not been seen for at least seven months.

Other children have not been seen for up to 16 months because of unfilled vacancies.

Now, service chiefs plan to spend up to £70,000 buying in private expertise to plug the gap.

The County Durham father, who has asked to remain anonymous, complained after his eight-year-old son had waited 16 months for specialist therapy.

The boy has severe dyspraxia, a condition which affects co-ordination.

His father, who lives in Fishburn, rang the therapy department run by Sedgefield Primary Care Trust to complain about delays after a paediatrician at a hospital advised him his son needed urgent therapy.

When he was told about the lack of therapists, he was furious.

He said: "They have known about these problems since last August, so for nearly a year, my son has been on a list that is going nowhere.

"If they had been honest with us about the delays, I would have been able to get him seen to elsewhere."

The father was particularly worried that his son's problems could become difficult to treat as he gets older.

He said: "He really needs this therapy to help him with his co-ordination. If he does not have it now, it could really affect him in his teens and early adulthood.

Nigel Porter, the chief executive of Sedgefield Primary Care Trust, said the problem arose after two therapists left the area and a third went on maternity leave.

Urgent measures now being taken to improve the situation include the transfer of an adult therapist into the paediatric unit to help the part-time therapist still in post.

While efforts will be made to fill the vacancies, up to £70,000 is being made available to buy in specialist services.

Mr Porter said: "We are all horrified that children should have to wait for a service. We plan to write to the families giving them as much information as we can. We can only apologise."