A SICK toddler is in quarantine after being put into isolation with a swine flu patient at Swindon’s Clover Centre.

Chloe Bartlett of Welcombe Avenue, Park North, has myasthenia gravis, a muscular dystrophy-linked illness so serious that a common cold could kill her.

Mum Rachel Whitty took the two-year-old to the walk-in clinic at the Great Western Hospital when she developed a rash on her arm on Saturday.

She says she was assured by doctors that Chloe would be placed in isolation and treated as a high risk patient because of her illness.

But just 15 minutes after being left to wait in the isolation room, Rachel and Chloe were joined by a child being treated for possible swine flu.

“I was and am still absolutely livid,” said Rachel, 23.

“What an absolutely irresponsible and unforgivable thing to do. Any medical professional who comes into contact with Chloe knows about her condition and what falling ill can mean for her.

“I even saw the note myself. It said, ‘Chloe Bartlett high-risk case, place in isolation, no patient contact’. I know I can’t protect her from swine flu and she could have got it anywhere, given it is a pandemic, but staff at the Clover Centre should never have put her in that position. I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.”

Chloe, brother Mitchell, four, and dad Simon Bartlett, 23, began developing flu-like symptoms on Sunday night. By Monday all three were in quarantine, being treated with Tamiflu antiviral flu medicine, although there is no suggestion they contracted the virus from the patient at the Clover Centre.

Chloe is now being monitored around the clock and will be rushed to hospital if she begins to have breathing difficulties.

“She’s just very drowsy and floppy at the moment and has a fever, but she seems to be coping okay,” said Rachel.

Sadly, going into hospital is nothing new for the toddler, who has been on life support seven times in her short life after picking up colds and chest infections.

By the time she was nine months old, she had stopped breathing three times and struggled to move, swallow and even blink in her battle against myasthenia gravis, forcing her parents to face losing their little girl more times then they care to remember. “This is exactly the reason she needed to be put into isolation,” said Rachel.

“We were just sat there when this family came in with their baby.

“The mum asked me why Chloe was there and when I told her she just said, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry but my daughter is in with suspected swine flu’. I hit the roof.

“All I kept thinking was Chloe would die, that she’d be on a ventilator within 12 hours and that would be it. It might sound melodramatic but when you have seen your child fight for life as much as I have it doesn’t seem that way.”

Rachel claims that the same receptionist who showed her to the room had to buzz the other family into the isolation room using a pass, meaning there was no way they could have wandered in by accident.

Health trust apologises
Dr Jenny Harries, Joint Director of Public Health at Swindon Primary Care Trust, said: “We apologise for any stress we have caused the family and want to reassure people that these were exceptional circumstances.

“Current national figures suggest only five per cent of people receiving antivirals through the helpline will actually have swine flu.

“This is a mild illness and the majority of people self manage their illness at home and recover fully within days.

“This patient received a rapid service from the Clover Centre and was in the isolation room for an extremely short period – half the amount of time health officials use to define a ‘close contact’ at risk of catching swine flu.

“It is important that anyone who has underlying health conditions tries to reduce the risk of infection where possible by following basic hygiene practices and limiting close contact with family members or friends who have swine flu symptoms.

“Our staff at the Clover Centre and across our GP surgeries are working extremely hard and confidently assessing and treating people with suspected swine flu in addition to their normal work load.

“We continue to urge people who suspect they have swine flu coming to stay at home rather than come to the Clover Centre or our GP surgeries where they may increase the risk of infection to others.”