A FATHER of three has demanded an apology from bosses at East Surrey Hospital after they called the police when he walked out of A&E with his son.
Elvis Hames took his son Ronan to the hospital's accident and emergency department when a groin injury the 12-year-old suffered a few weeks before started bleeding again.
But after being left to wait for nearly two-and-a-half hours without being offered a bandage to help with the bleeding, and with a babysitter back at home in Horley looking after his other two children, Mr Hames said he was left "fuming" by what happened when they were seen.
"When we finally got to see a doctor he came and had a look and said he was going to put a plaster on it and then take another look in two hours to see if the bleeding had stopped," the 44-year-old single parent said. "I asked him if he meant a bandage or some other kind of dressing and he said he was going to put a plaster on it. I thought there was some kind of misunderstanding and then he asked me if I needed an interpreter. I was so annoyed by that; we'd been sat down for over two hours and then he asked me if I needed an interpreter.
"We went to walk out and the nurse at the desk said 'Where are you going?' I said I was disgusted by the way we'd been treated and I was going to take him somewhere else."
Claiming that no-one at the hospital tried to stop him walking out, Mr Hames took his son home, by which point the bleeding had stopped.
Later that night he was left stunned when the police turned up at his door.
He said: "When I asked them why they were here they said someone at the hospital had phoned them saying my son had been taken from the hospital."
"He was in bed," he added. "All I wanted was an apology [from the hospital] and instead they called the police."
A spokesman for Surrey Police said: "Surrey Police carried out a welfare check of a child in Horley after concerns were raised by a third party.
"The check was made at around 1.30am on Wednesday, July 10 after the child had visited hospital with an adult. The child was found to be safe and well."
Jackie Thompson, matron of the emergency department at East Surrey Hospital, said: "We are sorry if the family feel they were treated inappropriately, but the welfare of a child always comes first.
"We follow a nationally-agreed protocol that involves the police doing a welfare visit when there are concerns about the safety of a child."
