THE grieving family of a Darlington grandmother say more should be done to ensure genuine illnesses are not dismissed as symptoms of ‘old age’.

As reported by The Northern Echo, 84-year-old Patricia Hutchinson died in 2015 following a series of horrifying events that unfolded after her tongue fell out following a misdiagnosis.

Symptoms of temporal arteritis – the condition that led to the loss of her tongue and resulting life-threatening complications – were missed by several doctors.

She was prescribed anti-anxiety medication and treated for thrush before tests – initially delayed by errors in the district nursing team - determined the illness that eventually led to her death.

Her daughters Susan Bartle and Pauline Rissetto believe that their mother’s advanced age may have contributed to signs of her deteriorating health being missed.

In a letter to the family Professor Chris Gray, executive medical director at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust, says: “When taken together, the symptoms you described your mum as having experienced were typical of TA.

“However, many of them overlap with chronic non-specific symptoms especially in older people, which means that TA is invariably a difficult diagnosis to make.”

Ms Hutchinson’s children are now urging pensioners and their families to be persistent with medics when they feel something is seriously amiss.

Ms Bartle said: “My mum couldn’t get out of bed and was getting weaker and weaker, this went on for 16 days and tests should have been done sooner.

“What my mother went through was horrendous and we want older people to persist if they know something is wrong – they know their bodies.”

Ms Rissetto said: “I think older people can get pushed to the back of the system and we want to raise awareness. We don’t want anyone written off because they ‘re old.”

The chief executive of Age UK Darlington, Gillian Peel, said: “Anecdotally, we are hearing about cases all over the country where older people are being treated as second class citizens.

“For example, if someone younger reported problems with balance or memory, they could be treated a lot more seriously than someone who is older and has dementia, which is wrongly classed as a social care issue rather than a health issue.

“We need a change of culture because we have reached the point where older people are not valued as they should be.

“GPs and medical staff are very busy and must prioritise their workloads but unfortunately, it can then become easy for older people’s illnesses to be written off as a symptom of old age. We need to ensure that everyone has excellent care, regardless of age.”