A MOTHER has been left distraught after a doctor’s surgery refused medical help for her sick four-week-old baby.

Naomi Dennis, of West Swindon, took little Ariella to Phoenix Surgery in Toothill on Tuesday after the newborn had gone nine days without a bowel movement. A worried Naomi, 37, described her infant as being in “serious pain” and took her to the surgery on the advice of a health visitor.

But when she arrived at the Dunwich Drive practice she was shocked to discover that Ariella could not be seen because the baby was not yet registered there.

A fuming Naomi said: “How can you possibly turn away a four-week-old baby who is clearly in pain? There’s no reason at all why they shouldn’t have seen her – she was clearly in distress.

“There was no empathy at all. They just didn’t seem concerned.”

Naomi, who works as a self-employed travel agent, has been a patient at the surgery for the past 12 years and medical staff there had helped her throughout the pregnancy.

She said: “They refused to see her simply because she wasn’t registered yet. But how can she not be registered? She’s my baby and I’ve only just had her. They said it takes five to seven days to register her, which is ridiculous.

“In a way they have already been treating her because she was inside my tummy.”

Desperate after being turned away, Naomi took Ariella to the Great Western Hospital. She claimed that doctors there were shocked to discover the surgery had turned her away.

She said: “Doctors at the hospital couldn’t believe the surgery would do that.”

Ariella was given medical attention but doctors insisted that she see a GP as soon as possible.

“The surgery has always been good in the past, I’ve never had any problems,” said Naomi. “If you can’t get an appointment they tell you to ring back in the morning and they try to fit you in. The people on reception are always lovely. But on Tuesday they just didn’t seem bothered about us.”

Naomi has applied to register her daughter and is currently waiting for it to be processed.

The Advertiser contacted Phoenix Surgery but staff there declined to comment, However, Naomi said they have since offered her a full apology.

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The Great Western Hospital cannot comment on individual cases.