North Yorkshire's Emergency Doctors' service was today under fire again from two families who say doctors refused to visit them.

The relatives have spoken out following the Evening Press story of 15-week-old Kavanagh Thomas, who had to be taken to hospital suffering from meningitis after a doctor refused to see him at home.

Mum Moya Wyatt, of Lucas Avenue, Clifton, said the same thing happened when her mother, Kathleen, called a doctor to see her 13-year-old son, Matthew, Burn, in December.

And Gwen Barnacle, of Wheldrake, said a doctor refused to see her husband, David, a year earlier when he contracted the 'flesh-eating bug' condition necrotizing fasciitis.

"I just want a system that we all feel safe with and can rely on," said Gwen.

"I don't want to pick up the paper and see people in this situation again."

Moya said: "We had a conciliation meeting about our complaint and we thought if anything came out of it, it would be that this wouldn't happen again. But it has happened again and to a baby."

Her son, Matthew, then 12, had been taking antibiotics for an ear infection for some time when he developed a high temperature, a stiff neck and vomiting on the night of December 12, last year, at his grandparents' home in Irwin Avenue, Heworth, York.

By 2.15am his grandmother, Kathleen Burn, called the emergency doctors. She said the doctor, based at Monkgate, York, would not visit, telling her to give him three crushed paracetamols and to go and see a doctor first thing in the morning.

She claimed he did not say that she could take Matthew down to Monkgate.

"Matthew put up with the pain for seven hours and as soon as we got to the surgery the doctor looked at him and said he had to be taken to hospital straight away," said Kathleen.

Matthew was immediately put on four sets of antibiotics, given pain relief and put on a drip to tackle his dehydration.

He had a severe infection in his ear and had to have an emergency operation to pierce his eardrum, and he had the bacterial form of meningitis.

He later had to have the mastoid bone next to his ear removed, was in hospital over Christmas and New Year, and did not go back to school until Easter.

Gwen said she had since received a personal apology from the doctor who did not come out when her husband fell ill in 1996.

David Barnacle was diagnosed with sciatica in mid-December but became very ill during the evening of December 25.

Gwen contacted the emergency doctor and was told to increase his dose of prescribed painkillers, although he was already taking the maximum dose.

The following evening David became so desperately ill, that Gwen asked for a doctor to be sent to their home, but was told there was no 'constructive reason' for doing so.

"I felt the doctor was not listening to what I was saying," she said.

"David was in terrible pain, he was ashen, but he had a raging temperature and was shaking - once again I was told to give him more painkillers."

Next day Gwen took David to his own doctor, who called an ambulance to take him from the surgery to the hospital.

By New Year's Eve Gwen was told she should bring their three children in to see their dad because he might not make it through the night. After ten days in intensive care David began to recover. In a letter to Gwen, the woman emergency doctor admitted: "I am in agreement with you that the system failed your husband. I cannot put the clock back, but I assure you that I shall bear this unfortunate incident in mind in my future career."

Dr James MacLeod chairman of North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors, said he could not comment on individual cases because of patient confidentiality.

"We cover about 800,000 patients and take about 170,000 calls a year and our surveys show 97 per cent are happy with the service they get."

"There are always cases - there always were and there are always going to be cases - where patients do not get the service they want for whatever reason. None of us willingly or deliberately wish to make anyone ill - that isn't our job.

"If anyone makes a comment or even a complaint about the service it goes through our complaints procedure which is agreed with North Yorkshire Health Authority and the Community Health Council."

He said there were always eight doctors on standby across the county in addition to the doctors working in the individual centres.

He said about 35 per cent of callers came down to various emergency centres across the county and he frequently heard doctors telling people to come down to the centre when they answered calls.

See COMMENT GPs must do better

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.