GPs who were unable to spot Crohn’s disease in a 12 year old Notts girl who later died may have been under ‘too much pressure’, says the head of a support group.
The chair of a national Crohn’s disease charity says she fears family doctors face workloads meaning it can be hard for them to spot subtle signs of the disease in children.
The comments follow a report by the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board, revealing an unnamed 12 year old girl from Notts had died from Crohn’s after several trips to her GP.
Her post-mortem revealed that she died of intestinal perforation with peritonitis and sepsis and Crohn’s disease.
Margaret Lee from the Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) sympathises with GPs and said it was not common for children to die of the condition in general but it does “happen occasionally”.
She added: “It’s rare and GPs are better at sending them on but it’s difficult and you can’t send every child on to a specialist.
“Some children will go through normally but the acute pain is worrying and often people end up at A&E.”
You can throw all the symptoms in the air, catch six and that could be Crohn’s
She adds that the pain symptomatic of Crohn’s is often mistaken as a problem with the appendix, and people will be operated on for this before a correct diagnosis.
CICRA is a 38 year old charity that supports children and families with Crohn’s and researches into the condition.
They also provide national three-year funding for those wanting to specialise in gastroenterology.
“It can mimic other conditions that won’t end so sadly,” said Margaret.
“Cases of Crohn’s and Colitis can have very different symptoms to one another.
“There were 33 symptoms at one time, and you can essentially throw the symptoms in the air and catch just six of those and that could be Crohn’s.”
She adds that things have improved, and 40 years ago no children would have been seen with the disease whereas now thousands are.
Now there are paedriatric gastroenterologists heading up teams to recognise the condition more.
These doctors have the expertise to treat children with digestive, liver and nutritional issues they may have.
“GPs maybe should be more aware of it, but it’s alright to say that when there are so many other conditions particularly in children,” says Margaret.
“Most get to them, and it’s not the norm and very sad when it doesn’t.”
Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association offer support, information and understanding to families of children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
More information about them can be found on their website.
