A FAMILY whose daughter suffers from a rare genetic disease have expressed serious concerns over a lack of paediatric care provisions at Fairfield Hospital.

Annabelle Griffin suffers from Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (VEDS), an incurable condition that means she is at daily risk of her internal organs and arteries spontaneously rupturing.

And after the six-year-old took a fall at their Brandlesholme home recently, parents Sarah and Jared were shocked to learn that there are no paediatric consultants based at Fairfield.

On-call paediatric consultants have been based at North Manchester General Hospital, eight miles away in Crumpsall, since 2012.

Mrs Griffin said: “I just wanted the doctors at Fairfield to quickly check her over, but they didn’t really understand how to treat her.

“I thought they would just be able to take her pulse and blood pressure, but because they don’t understand, it makes them overly cautious.

“That can make it more dangerous for Annabelle, and it means that money is being wasted on tests she doesn’t need and that other people aren’t being seen.”

Annabelle is usually treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, but the recent incident has left the family worrying that she and other children with rare conditions might not receive the proper treatment in an emergency.

She added: “Now we know we can’t rely on Fairfield if something goes wrong.

“What’s the point in having a local hospital if you can’t go there in an emergency?

“It’s tough for us to explain her condition at any accident and emergency (A&E) unit, but when there’s no paediatric consultant it’s even worse.”

A spokesman for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “A&E consultants are trained to manage children and where a paediatric opinion or admission is required, the paediatrician is called.

“At Fairfield Hospital, the paediatric in-patient service was relocated to North Manchester General Hospital in 2012 following the implementation of the Making it Better recommendations and from that time, there has no longer been a paediatric consultant on-site.

“However, the paediatricians based at North Manchester are on-call for both North Manchester and Fairfield hospitals and respond to emergencies as required.

“The majority of children continue to be seen and managed appropriately in A&E at Fairfield Hospital.

“Very ill children and those that require admission are sent to North Manchester General Hospital to the paediatric in-patient service following their assessment.”