An emergency doctor told a mother to ask neighbours for taxi money to reach medical help for her sick baby, it was claimed today.

Leanne Daniels' 10-month-old daughter, Shannon, spent eight days in hospital recovering from meningitis after a doctor finally came out to see her on the morning the call for help was made.

"It started when Shannon got a high temperature and she had what I didn't know at the time was a convulsion," said Leanne, 23, of Viking Road, Acomb, York.

"I rang the doctor and told him I didn't have any transport and I didn't have money for a taxi, and he said I should go knocking round neighbours asking if I could borrow money from them.

"Then he asked me if I could walk to Monkgate with her, which was impossible. He implied I didn't care about her because I wouldn't bring her down."

It was only when she flatly refused to go down to Monkgate that another doctor went out to see her. Within minutes of the second doctor's arrival, an ambulance was called, and within minutes of Shannon's arrival at York District Hospital, a lumbar puncture found she had meningitis and she was immediately given antibiotics.

Shannon is now well after eight days in hospital, but Leanne said she had written to complain about what happened and had now received an acknowledgement.

She added: "This attitude needs to be stopped and people need to feel safe that they can have a doctor when they feel that they need one," she said.

"You shouldn't have to go through all this when children are ill."

But Dr James MacLeod, chairman of North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors, said: "We have to ask patients that they must take responsibility for trying to get themselves to see us.

"I think it needs to be stated that out-of-hours calls across the country have risen 10 times in the last 25 years. The amount of serious illness has stayed pretty static. It is impossible for GPs to do what they used to do which was to cope with most of those as home visits."

Leanne's story comes after the Evening Press highlighted three other complaints about doctors allegedly refusing to come to see patients. She said she had decided to come forward because something needed to change.

A month ago, Ann Thomas contacted the Evening Press when a doctor refused to come out to see her baby Kavanagh, who had meningitis, and afterwards Moya Wyatt spoke out about the same thing happening with her 13-year-old son Matthew.

Gwen Barnacle, who also came forward when doctors refused to visit her husband, said: "I have had people coming up to me in the street since I was in the Evening Press, saying they agree with me.

"Three weeks down the line from another baby with meningitis, and here's another one.

"I would like to see the system looked at more closely. I don't know if it is under-funded, whether there are not enough cars available - there must be some reason."

Dr MacLeod said: "I don't think it's unreasonable to ask people if they can get down to see us and sometimes you have to be imaginative. Frequently, it is quicker if they come to see us than if we go out.

"There are many people who get neighbours and friends to bring them down to see us."

He said surveys carried out by the service showed a satisfaction rate of 97 per cent, but that the service asked the health authority for more money every year.

The service was funded 23 per cent by the health authority and 77 per cent by GPs.

It received between 1,000 and 2,000 calls each day and on Saturday had two cars and eight doctors on duty, plus a standby doctor.

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