Child patients put at risk by ‘aggressive’ gastroenterology treatment at Great Ormond Street
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Concerns have resurfaced over alleged misdiagnosis and over- treatment of the rare gut disease Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease (EGID) by Great Ormond Street Hospital’s (GOSH) gastroenterology (gastro) team.
The story has been covered in detail by Melanie Newman of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, who has worked with Amazing Productions on an ITV documentary called Great Ormond Street: The Child First and Always? The documentary will air on Wednesday 18 April 2018.
Reports allege that child patients were given potentially dangerous drugs, were subjected to invasive tests, and in some cases given strict ‘exclusion diets’ which produced no health benefit. Children treated in this reportedly controversial way faced the risk of harm to their physical and mental health. The concerns regarding the gastroenterology department at GOSH date back over 7 years, but remain unresolved. The gastro department is understood to have stopped accepting new referrals in 2015.
Peter Walsh of AvMA is quoted as saying: “It is vitally important that, when there are concerns about a particular type of treatment, the concerns are shared with other health providers.”
In 2017 Dr Michael Marsh, a medical director at NHS England (which commissions specialised services from GOSH), told Melanie Newman at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: “We have been working very closely with Great Ormond Street who are putting in place measures to prevent this happening again. We are saddened to hear that any child, young person or family may have been put through unnecessary treatment.”
For their part, in response to these reports, GOSH told the Bureau that: “the vast majority of care in the service was good and there was no evidence of long-term consequences for any patients as a result of their care.”
Enable Law will continue to follow this story . The links below are to the two latest reports by Melanie Newman for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism:
Seven year saga of Great Ormond Street department that over-treated some children
Was allergy poster boy given too many drugs?
Laurence Vick is a Legal Director in our medical negligence team, and represented many of the families affected by the Bristol Children’s Cardiac Surgery scandal. If you or your family have any concerns over medical treatment received, you can speak to one our team on 0800 044 8488, or click here to contact us.
