"Dreadful way to treat children"

My 22 month old grandaughter was referred for a blood test but it couldn’t be booked online because there is a different service for young children. A phone call was made and the earliest appointment was five weeks away, the children’s blood test unit is only open four days a week for only three hours a day. When she eventually went for her blood test the only difference was, there was another person there to hold her arm whilst blood was taken. It was my understanding that young children were given some anaesthetic cream or spray to avoid the pain from a needle being inserted. Neither of these options were offered and as a consequence it was a painful and traumatic experience for her.

What is the point of having special clinics for children if they are treated the same as adults. To make matters worse the result of her blood test showed that she was anaemic and had had to wait over five weeks for this to be discovered and as I’m sure you are aware if anaemia isn’t treated early it can lead to other problems. This could have and should have been resolved much earlier. I think it is a disgrace that young children are treated this way and the hospital should be ashamed.