A COUPLE have spoken of their anger after a doctor accused them of “wasting NHS money” when an operator at the non-emergency 111 helpline insisted on sending an ambulance to attend to their sick baby.

Lisa and David Lewarne of Gilesgate, Durham City, whose 11-month-old Amelia is now recovering from bronchiolitis, have complained to their local NHS Trust about the doctor’s “blunt and rude” manner.

Mrs Lewarne said they had taken Amelia to the urgent care centre at University Hospital of North Durham on Thursday night after she developed breathing difficulties.

The out-of-hours doctor told her Amelia would get over it by herself and sent her home.

But an hour later Amelia was still having breathing difficulties and the couple called the non-emergency helpline.

Mrs Lewarne said: “The operator was really worried about Amelia, because she could hear her struggling to breathe. I offered to take Amelia to hospital but she insisted on sending an ambulance.

“When paramedics arrived they contacted the original doctor, who demanded to know why we had rung 111.

“She spoke to my husband who then handed the phone to me. She was fuming and said 'what do you think you have done'?

“I was taken aback when she said we had wasted the NHS £500 for no reason whatsoever - by using the 111 service and calling out the ambulance when she had seen us just an hour before.

“I told her it was the operator that insisted on sending an ambulance. But I felt the doctor was more concerned about the costs than by my baby's condition.

“She was rather blunt and rude and I found her comments rather distressing.”

A GP later prescribed antibiotics for Amelia, who is recovering.

A County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “We are sorry that the parents of the child are unhappy with the service provided, but we cannot discuss the details of an individual patient’s care or the content of their medical records.

“The issues raised are now being handled by our patient experience team and will be thoroughly investigated.”

The incident comes as ambulance crews across the region have complained of being stretched to breaking point – with one in ten calls to the NHS non-emergency helpline resulting in paramedics being dispatched.