SS involvement and reports from hospitals

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Brokenfamily

Welcome back to the parents’ discussion board and thank you for posting. I am sorry to hear of the current difficulties you and your family are having which have been very stressful for you.

Your primary query is about how to complain about the health services; we don’t advise on those processes but the information below may be of help to you:

You ask who you should report a complaint to and state that you have already made a report to NHS England in the hope that this will address your complaints about 2 hospitals and your GPs – you are also in the process of changing GP. Hopefully this information on how to complain to the NHS will assist you. You may be able to get help from Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) .

We do advise on the role of Children’s Services’ though and clearly there is a role for them here.

It seems that they have remained involved; when you last posted your husband was returning home having stayed outside the home at the request of children’s services for some time. The children had been on a child protection plan. You don’t say if that is still in place but it may be or alternatively there may be a child in need plan in place.

There have been two recent concerns to do with the children’s health – firstly the issue of your son’s medication and secondly, at the end of last week when you took the children to hospital one child was found to have a fracture. You are also concerned about the impact of this on your other child who struggles with mental health. I am not sure if this is because this child caused the injury to the other child, you do mention the children having an accident.

It is not clear what the outcome of the situation last week was as it sounds as if there was a child protection concern about the child’s injury coupled with the query about the child’s medication. Reference was made to a ‘line on the bone’ which you were later told did not exist. This is understandably concerning and confusing for you and needs further explanation.

You don’t say specifically if your child was able to return home too but hopefully they were.

It is really important that you clarify with the children’s social worker today (if you haven’t already done so) what their assessment of the current situation is, do they have concerns such as about how the injury occurred or about supervision and about management of your child’s medication or are they satisfied about these?

Although you are unhappy with the medical staff response and are making a complaint, it is essential that you understand their responsibilities if they have any concerns about a child in relation to any injuries sustained or how their medical needs are met. Also that you continue to engage with medical professionals so that the children get the right health care and advice even if you are involved in a complaints process. You did the right thing by trying to get your son’s medication sorted and taking the children to be examined when it was needed. But the situation remains quite unclear. Hopefully you have had some answers by now.

Please do post again to clarify children’s services response and if you have any queries about this or if you prefer to speak to an adviser you can contact the freephone advice helpline on 0808 8010366 Mon – Fri 9.30 to 3.30 pm.

I hope this helps

With best wishes

Suzie