'He's been suffering since he was eight months old': Mother's anger at son's 'misdiagnosis'
A mother says she is disgusted with a Black Country hospital after claiming her son's condition was misdiagnosed for more than three years.
Hayley Farren was told her child had suffered from a hydrocele when he was eight months old and he would be operated on at Walsall Manor Hospital when he was three.
When young Aiden Smith's third birthday came and went, Miss Farren, from Dyson Close, Walsall, returned to her GP and finally saw a consultant after her son had turned four.
She was then told in June last year Aiden did not have a hydrocele, which is a sack filled with fluid that forms around a testicle, but he had in fact been suffering from a hernia.
Miss Farren said she had now managed to get her son in for surgery by next month – after originally being told she was on a 12-month waiting list – but she was still very angry with the hospital.
She alleged: "They have misdiagnosed the problem and it could have been sorted out ages ago. For Aiden to go to the toilet is a long process and he has been constipated ever since his testicle first became swollen.
"Sometimes it can take him a week to go to the toilet and he's been suffering with that since he was eight months old.
"He should have been operated on when he was three but we had to go back through our GP and then get referred to the hospital because we were forgotten about.
"It's not fair how long Aiden has had to wait and I think that's the most frustrating part."
Miss Farren, who also has a three-year-old son Kye, said it was hard to explain to Aiden why he was still in nappies when his little brother used pants.
"There's only 10 months between them," she said.
"My youngest is now in pants but I can't let Aiden stop using nappies because of his condition.
"He does not know when he's going to go so I can't risk it but it's hard trying to explain it to him because he's a very bright lad. I am disgusted at what has happened"
Garry Perry, patient relations manager at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We apologise for Ms Farren's poor experience.
"We have looked into the issues raised and these have since been resolved.
"We welcome complaints as a way of improving our services and if Ms Farren has any further concerns we will be more than willing to look into them."
