A FULL-TIME father has spoken of his concern after his daughter was diagnosed with trapped wind by Suffolk’s out-of-hours doctors service, only to find out two days later she had leukaemia.

James Codling and Taylor, three, went to the Riverside Clinic, in Ipswich, and he says he was told to go and buy a bottle of gripe water.

However, within two days the toddler’s condition had deteriorated and Mr Codling, 32, of Hasketon, near Woodbridge, took her to their family doctor, who immediately referred her to hospital.

Blood tests at Ipswich Hospital diagnosed leukaemia just a day later, on March 23.

Taylor was originally seen by a doctor working for Take Care Now (TCN) – which has since been replaced by Harmoni HS Ltd as the out-of-hours provider.

Father-of-two Mr Codling, who has raised his children alone since he split with his partner, is considering taking legal action.

He said: “There is a big difference between having trapped wind and having leukaemia. I feel very let down.”

Mr Codling says specialists told the family even a minor knock could have caused internal bleeding as Taylor had low levels of blood platelets.

Mr Codling said the brave youngster now faced months of treatment including chemotherapy and an anxious wait to find out how widely the leukaemia had spread.

“We will not know the full picture for 28 days,” he said. “At the moment she is doing pretty well and bouncing through.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Suffolk, which ended a contract with TCN at the end of last month, said: “Whilst we are not able to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, we would certainly like to offer our best wishes to the family and wish their daughter a speedy recovery.”

The out-of-hours care for Suffolk is now run by Harmoni HS Ltd, which took over on April 1.

A spokesman said: “We have been made aware of an incident that happened to a patient during the out-of-hours period on March 20 when the service was run by Take Care Now.

“We are unable to comment on the individual case due to patient confidentiality, but would like to apologise to the patient and their family for any distress that the service may have caused them.

“The patient has not formally complained to TCN or Harmoni. However, the incident is now under investigation and a formal report will be written. We would encourage the patient to contact us directly so that we can share the findings of the report with them.”