UNDER FIRE: Doctors On Call practice manager Kathleen Tanner.

IN recent weeks, Peterborough Doctors on Call has faced criticism over its handling of three high profile cases involving young children. Today the out-of-hours service defended its tarnished reputation.

AN OUT-OF-HOURS city doctors surgery has today defended its service, which has come under fire three times in as many weeks.

Last month, The Evening Telegraph reported how teenage parents Kelly Romeo and Ashley Kenealy threatened to take legal action against Doctors on Call. The threat came after they were told their baby was suffering from constipation just hours before he was diagnosed with meningitis.

A week later, another city mother, Lisa Barry, said she would have no more children after she claimed the doctors service failed to recognise that her baby had the life-threatening condition bronchiolitis.

Yesterday, the teenage parents of a baby who died from whooping cough claimed the service should have spotted their child’s complaint when they examined him four days before he was admitted to hospital.

But today, the manager of Doctors on Call defended the service which she says is vital for the residents of Peterborough. Kathleen Tanner, said: “The assessment of a condition can be very important. In the case of a small baby like Taylor Kenealy the condition can change quite quickly, and, as the doctor said at the time, it’s very difficult to judge whether a baby has a serious condition or not. In that case, the child was brought in by its parents and was assessed by the doctor, but later on got worse. That could happen in any situation. Two hours can make all the difference.

She added: “We are a valuable service for the city as a whole, and 95 per cent of our customers say how satisfied they are. On the same day Taylor Kenealy was brought in, another lady rang us and asked how our doctor had got to her so quickly. She had been diagnosed with meningitis by the doctor the week before. He sent her to hospital and possibly saved her life. We pride ourselves on the quality of service that we offer, but, inevitably, sometimes things don’t turn out as you would have liked.”

On average, Doctors on Call deals with about 70 calls a night, but in exceptional situations, such as December 28, 1999, the service can be contacted up to 700 times in 24 hours. The seven-year-old service pools the expertise of nearly all the city’s general practitioners in the surgery out-of-hours periods from 6.30pm to 7am during the week, and from noon on Saturday until 7am on Monday.

When people ring the centre they speak to a receptionist and then a trained nurse.The nurse assesses the patient’s condition and then decides what action to take. This can range from advice over the telephone to sending out a doctor for more serious cases. The nurse can also call an ambulance or refer the patient to the NHS Walk-In Centre in Midgate or accident and emergency at Peterborough District Hospital.

Dr Steve Walker, of Nene Valley Practice, in Orton Malborne, Peterborough, works at Doctors on Call about twice every month. He said: “We are always under pressure. Articles in the press make you more aware of the public expectation. It is a way of life. Medical programmes on TV make general practice appear something that it isn’t. I’m not sure how aware people are of how things work out-of-hours. Doctors used to sit at home and work in isolation out-of-hours. This is far more organised, and mimics how surgery works in the day. We have got trained staff and nurses, so we are under less pressure and can spend more time with patients. Mistakes were probably more likely in the days before Doctors on Call.”

© East Midlands Newspapers Ltd