THE family of a toddler whose life was saved after visiting Bishop Auckland Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre have expressed the importance of keeping the facility open.
In July 2014, Jessica Colville, then aged two, from Spennymoor, in County Durham, was taken to the unit on a Sunday evening, where she was diagnosed with severe croup and admitted to the children’s ward at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
Less than an hour later, whilst waiting to be seen by a ward duty doctor, Jessica started showing signs of breathing difficulties and her lips turned blue, triggering an emergency response from medical staff in seconds and a full team within minutes.
Paul Wheatley, from Spennymoor with his grandchildren, twins Jessica and Adam Colville, aged three. Picture by Stuart Boulton
She was stabilised, but at 11pm her condition became critical and, as a back-up plan, she was placed on a ventilator and transferred to the intensive care unit at the RVI Hospital, in Newcastle.
Jessica, now aged three, recovered a week later, but her parents, Lisa and Jonathan Colville, and grandfather Paul Wheatley, from Spennymoor, believe the quick diagnosis at the Urgent Care Centre saved her life.
The service is commissioned by the Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group (DDES CCG), which is carrying out a review of urgent care services.
Mr Wheatley said: “The key to the urgent care centre is that it is always open, on a 24/7 basis and ensures that people do not go to the already overburdened A&E departments at Durham or Darlington.
“We are eternally thankful to the NHS professionals.
“We took no joy in finding out this was deemed as a "rare case", only thankful that the medical system worked so well.
“Without doubt, lack of a 24/7 local urgent care in the first instance for diagnosis, along with the children's ward, in Darlington, and the RVI, in Newcastle, it would have cost the life of a young girl.
“If this had occurred anywhere else, the response time would not have been sufficient.
“Any plans to close the urgent care unit in Bishop Auckland should seriously consider occasions such as this.”
Dr Stewart Findlay, the DDES CCG’s Chief Clinical Officer, said: “This case highlights the importance of getting out of hours urgent care services right for each local community, as well as the need for services that are close to home.
“In March, we are launching a formal consultation with local people across the Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield about their local urgent care services, what works well, what doesn’t, and what we can do to improve those services, to ensure that people get the right care at the right time and by the right people.”
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