TWO Vale families hit out this week as the lack of GP cover in Evesham was highlighted in dramatic fashion.

The parents of a toddler who developed breathing difficulties were told to take him to a hospital in Worcester, Redditch or Kidderminister.

And another mother, who called a doctor for her daughter at noon on Saturday, finally received a visit more than 14 hours later, in the middle of the night.

Mike and Heather Tandy, whose son Adam, two, developed breathing difficulties, telephoned for help about 11pm.

"We 'phoned hoping to take him to see a GP at Evesham Hospital urgently. We were told to go to Worcester, Redditch or Kidderminster!"

The couple, who have written to MP Peter Luff, have urged other families with similar experiences to speak out.

Mrs Tandy said that they had spoken to a nurse by telephone. "She suggested propping Adam up and running a very hot shower so the steam might help his breathing.

"Fortunately he did get better and did not need to go to hospital but none of us knew that at the time."

Mr Tandy said: "It would appear that, even though we would bet that most people living in Evesham are not aware of it, the services of a GP during evening/nightime hours in Evesham are not available.

"Have we been dreaming over the past five years, or did we hear on TV and read in the papers that more cash is being pumped into the NHS than at any time in our history?

"If this is the case, why are the GP services in Evesham being cut back to the point where someone is going to die before being attended to?

"If this is the health service in 2006, God help us all.

"As staunch supporters of the NHS we are writing to our MP about this dreadful situation and would urge others to do the same," he said.

Pauline Brotherton of Offenham was appalled after she called a doctor out to see her daughter who complained of severe backache.

Mrs Brotherton called the Pershore doctors' surgery on Saturday, January 7 at noon to get a doctor to attend to her daughter. She called an out-of-hours number which puts a caller through to Worcester. She received two calls on Saturday at 6pm and 9pm informing her a doctor would be arriving.

Mrs Brotherton finally received a third call at 11pm telling her a doctor would not be coming as he had run out of time.

Mrs Brotherton's daughter was finally seen at 2.30am on Sunday, January 8 by a duty doctor from Solihull.

She said: "My daughter was in so much pain she was in agony from noon on Saturday until 2.30am on Sunday.

"I am really annoyed and appalled by the situation especially in this day and age.

"If this happens now it's going to happen more and more and we must bring this sort of thing to light to prevent it from continuing."

Dr Tim Davies, deputy chief executive of the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, said: "The Primary Care Trust is not able to discuss individual patient cases before of confidentiality issues.

"We operate an efficient county-wide GP out-of-hours emergency service and we are confident it is clinically safe.

"Each patient is triaged for urgency, whether they need to go to hospital, attend the Primary Care Centre or require a visit from a GP. We are continuing to modernise the out-of-hours service across the county."