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"They made multiple comments about my daughter being loud"

About: Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick children / Trauma & Orthopaedics

(as a parent/guardian),

My daughter was seen in the paediatric orthopaedic surgery clinic.  As I parent I am extremely hurt and disappointed about how my daughter was treated. she has autism and multiple learning difficulties. The doctor made multiple comments about my daughter being extremely loud (my daughter actually doesn’t use words she’s classed as non-verbal she is loud with gibberish sounds when stimming), doctor wouldn’t listen to me and winced every time my daughter made a loud sound, giving my daughter dirty looks for being excited over an electric fan. 

I tried to explain my concerns but the doctor was very dismissive and telling me to wait to see a paediatrician for my daughter’s autism and tell them instead. I brought evidence of other professionals and their concerns and the doctor refused to look at the evidence. When I explained my child can’t walk outside they retorted to me oh well she is walking in here no problem, when that’s not what I said, outside is her issue not inside.

The doctor explained what they thought the issue was with my daughter however because of her learning difficulties the doctor refused to give us any advice  or exercises because they said, their words, that my daughter is non-compliant.

This is the second time the nhs has dismissed my daughter because of her disability and this is not good enough. I had to remove my daughter from the room so I could talk to the doctor and the doctor was very relieved about my daughter being removed. I will be seeking other professional help and I encourage the children hospital to train staff on dealing with learning difficulties and disabilities so no other child faces the utter disrespect my daughter faced

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Responses

Response from Seamus O'Brien, Senior Manager , Withers Orthopaedics area, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 2 weeks ago
Seamus O'Brien
Senior Manager , Withers Orthopaedics area,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Submitted on 21/05/2025 at 20:24
Published on Care Opinion at 20:24


Hi (Starr1307)

My name is Dr Seamus O’Brien and I want to apologise for the slight delay with this response. There were some technical issues in getting this story to myself. However, the patient and client facilitator for the Belfast Trust has forwarded your story to myself. Thank you for posting your story on Care Opinion.

I sincerely apologise for your experience and I have already passed on your concerns to the appropriate teams who will in due course investigate your concerns and report back to you. Thankfully, we have already had the opportunity to discuss this situation by phone. I will do everything in my control to help. I have already made several internal contacts to see what more I can do to help both you and your daughter in terms of signposting to appropriate services.

I want to apologise for your negative experience and I will further review your child's clinical records and I have already ensured your comments were passed on to the relevant individual surgeon, senior management teams in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, and the paediatric clinical lead for investigation. We will fully investigate and get back to you in a timely manner.

Many thanks.

Dr Seamus O’Brien

Senior Manager, Orthopaedics

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