A three-year-old girl was denied treatment at Harwich Hospital when staff shortages closed its emergency unit.

The minor injuries unit of the hospital is usually open from 7.30am to 9.30pm.

But on Monday it was closed by 5pm because of staff shortages at Colchester.

Belinda Carpenter, of Grange Road, Dovercourt, said she took her three-year-old daughter, Laura, to the hospital shortly before 7pm when she complained of stomach pains.

But when she arrived at the hospital Mrs Carpenter was told by a member of staff she would have to either call a doctor out or travel 40 miles to Colchester and back.

She said: "I was very worried. It was not good enough and I think it was terrible. My daughter was in so much pain but the hospital was all shut up and in darkness. I just didn't know what to do."

A spokesman for Essex Rivers Health Care Trust said Colchester General Hospital was stretched to the limit on Monday and had to call on staff from Harwich to help.

He said: "The sister in charge at Colchester went home ill. The person who staffs Harwich is always a sister, a nurse practitioner, and it was felt to be the best use of resources to bring in a member of staff from Harwich.

"It was regrettable and it has been a long time since we have had to do anything like this. Things have been back to normal since."

Although Mrs Carpenter's daughter was not seriously ill, she has said she will take the matter further and is complaining to health chiefs about the matter through her brother, Harwich town councillor Steven Henderson.

The minor injuries unit will become the responsibility of the newly-formed Tendring Primary Care Trust (PCT) in April.

The group has been meeting with health campaigners from Tendring to resolve problems with night cover in the area.

It had been hoped to begin a pilot scheme at Harwich Hospital with a paramedic team, nurse practitioner and a doctor from Healthcall, the GP deputising service, to provide overnight health cover.

But Paul Unsworth, chief executive of the PCT, said the scheme would not start until next spring, despite it being originally hoped it would begin in the summer.

He said: "I am as disappointed as anyone that it has been delayed. We did commission a project manager to take the scheme forward but that was as not successful as we hoped."

Mr Unsworth said a short-term objective of arranging for an extra Healthcall doctor to be based overnight at Harwich Hospital to attend call-outs was being worked on.

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