Three year wait for a crucial throat op

Girl who nearly choked to death twice can't get surgery

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

A 12-year-old girl is having to wait three years for an operation despite choking twice and in “agony” due to a throat condition.

Lauren Crome has been suffering from bouts of severe tonsillitis since she was three years old, having up to seven episodes a year.

She has missed weeks of school at a time and has had to abandon her dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer because she is so poorly and cannot risk infection.

Last year she was finally referred to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department at Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Children where her parents were told there was a waiting list for treatment of 18 months.

But a year later that waiting list for day surgery has risen to three years.

Lauren’s dad Stephen and mum Kellie have now been left living in fear. Stephen, 39, a charge nurse on an alcohol and drug recovery ward, said: “Near enough every time the schools come back from a break she comes down with it.

“Last April she saw an ENT specialist who said he saw what they think are polyps on her tonsils.

“She literally can’t speak for two weeks, she is in agony and she has choked a couple of times.

“I have had to save her life twice with abdominal thrusts.

“There is no way she could go to school when she has it.

“She is too unwell for school.”