A mother was forced to endure a day of worry over her sick baby after doctors from a Malvern surgery refused to come out and see her.

Anna Shail, of Yates Hay Road, called the Court Road surgery three times after her daughter Chloe, less than a year old, fell ill and was running a temperature of 100 degrees.

When she was able to take Chloe to Malvern hospital that evening, doctors took one look at her before sending her straight into intensive care at Worcester.

Chloe was diagnosed as suffering from asthma and was kept in for three days.

The Shail family nightmare began on Monday, June 18, when Chloe fell ill.

"She is usually very lively but she really was not very well," said Anna, aged 26.

"She was sick, had diarrhoea and a high temperature."

Mrs Shail stayed up all night to look after Chloe and the next morning, when the baby's temperature hit 100 degrees, she phoned the surgery.

Mrs Shail could not drive to the surgery, on the other side of Malvern, because she did not want to move Chloe and because her car had been damaged in a crash the previous Friday.

"I asked if a doctor could come out and see Chloe but they were very offhand with me. All they could offer me was an appointment the next day," she said.

But when husband Richard came home from work that evening, they took Chloe to Malvern Community Hospital, where the doctor who saw her admitted her immediately to Ronkswood Hospital.

She said: "The doctors at Malvern hospital and in Ronkswood said they were amazed that no one would come out and see me."

Although Chloe is now fine and celebrated her first birthday yesterday (Thursday), Mrs Shail is still angry at the response she got from the surgery.

She said: "I'm not one of those people who calls the doctor all the time, wanting them to come out for nothing.

"I joined the surgery when I was pregnant with Chloe and my only contact with them was routine appointments. But I will be transferring to another surgery now."

She said Dr David Payler from the surgery had called to offer her an apology but did not provide an explanation as to why no home visit had been made.

Lyn Norman, practice manager at Court Road Surgery, said that because of patient confidentiality, the surgery could not discuss the case.