The mum of a Co Down child who developed Strep A but was initially wrongly diagnosed in a text message from a GP, has called for an end to consultations and diagnoses over the phone for children.
Laura Rooney from Banbridge told Belfast Live in December about the horrendous scare she had with her five-year-old daughter Farrah, who started getting sick in September of last year.
Now that Farrah is starting to feel better, Laura wants to raise the prospect of text and phone consultations being done away with for sick children.
"I definitely don't feel it should be a service used still to diagnose children," she said.
"Unfortunately, Farrah was wrongly diagnosed in a text message and was told that her rash was due to antibiotics and to continue them. I can't help but wonder if Farrah had been diagnosed at the time her rash came out face to face, she would have been put on the correct antibiotics which could have sped up her recovery.
"But unfortunately by the time her rash had developed and it was wrongly diagnosed, it just spiralled downhill to the point where had to be admitted to hospital."
Farrah was sick from September through to her Strep A diagnosis in December last year, developing pneumonia in her lungs and a very visible rash over her body.
Laura said that she understood why phone consultations were introduced during Covid restrictions and why it might still be helpful for some adult patients.
However she added that the practice of diagnosing children as the result of messages and pictures exchanged between GPs and a parent over the phone, needed to stop.
"I would like to call for the abolishment of diagnosing children through text messages, although I can see how it would be helpful for vulnerable people who can't maybe attend a group surgery," she said.
"It just needs completely restructured to the point where more face to face appointments need to happen, but it's not completely all the GPs fault all the time."
Laura said that she had wider concerns about the way the health system was coping in general in Northern Ireland, highlighting the detrimental impact the lack of local government has had.
She pointed to the recent coverage of Northern Ireland's stalled transplant legislation as just one area where people were being let down.
"I felt relieved at the time when I knew Farrah was going to make an improvement, but my heart goes out to every child in Northern Ireland now, who's either waiting on an operation that's been cancelled because of the lack of Assembly," she said.
"Or else who hasn't got the medication they needed because it couldn't be passed in the Assembly.
"The only way forward for our children here to improve and also for laws to be put in place for transplants to happen to enrich children's lives, is if the Assembly reforms.
"Unfortunately that's not happening at the moment, and I wonder do the Assembly feel for the 180 families that this is going to affect as a direct result of the Assembly not reforming (those waiting on transplants)."
Laura said that the changes recommended as far back as 2016 in the Bengoa report, carried out by Portuguese Professor Rafael Bengoa, which proposed drastic changes to the NI health service.
"Now that Farrah's recovered, I've gained enough strength and momentum now to make sure that no other child has to go through this as well," she said.
"And also to help the parents of sick children at the moment by putting more pressure on the Assembly to form to make the decisions, because nothing can be done unless they do. There's no blame to be put on the NHS here at all, it's the pressure that they're under.
"There's a desperate need for a restructure and reconfiguration as put forward by the panel for the Bengoa Report, so I'd be asking now that it's reviewed and as soon as the Assembly reforms again, that it's addressed."
Farrah has one more consultant appointment left and Laura is hopeful that she can put the last five months behind them and start to make some happier memories together as a family.
The Department of Health spokesperson said: "GP practices have been under significant pressure since before the pandemic and have been working hard to see patients as needed. The adoption of telephone and virtual triage has provided a highly effective way to offer care to patients and has allowed a greater number of patients to be seen than would otherwise have been the case.
"It is anticipated that demand for GP services will remain high, and by continuing to offer digital solutions, practices are able to ensure patients are seen appropriately as quickly as possible.
"The Department of Health will continue to work in partnership with GPs to continuously review how services are provided, to ensure that that everyone in Northern Ireland can access high quality, safe services."
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