THE mother of a seriously ill boy, who almost died after his renal failure was diagnosed as a tummy bug, has been told by health chiefs the medical advice she was given was “appropriate”.

Laura Edwards has given her son, Logan Williamson Edwards, the ultimate gift of life by donating one of her kidneys to him.

And she says the four-year-old would have died if she had followed the advice given to her from an outof- hours NHS service.

Ms Edwards, aged 32, was told by an operator that Logan did not meet the “red flag” criteria to see a doctor.

She was told to give him fluids, but medical experts say if patients suffering from end-stage renal failure take on more fluid, it could lead to their death as the kidney cannot expel it and this puts pressure on other organs.

The worried mother-of-five decided to take her son, who was then aged three, to the Royal Bolton Hospital. Just a few hours later, he had been transferred to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where he was diagnosed with endstage renal failure.

NHS Bolton, which ran the out-of-hours service until July, 2012, launched an investigation.

A letter sent to Ms Edwards on August 24 from Su Long, interim accountable officer at Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), says that the triage assessment given to Ms Edwards’ son was “appropriate” and that she was advised to take him to hospital.

But it also stated the nurse “indicated his systems were not coming up with any ‘red flags’” and advised the family to take Logan to their GP.

Ms Edwards, who gave Logan one of her kidneys last month, says the transcripts of the conversation between her and the triage nurse on the outof- hours NHS service are “incomplete and inaccurate”.

She says she is still waiting for answers from NHS Bolton, which is responsible for buying health services for local people.

NHS Bolton has admitted a “technical” problem has prevented them accessing the data on the transcripts and they had to employ a company to recover the conversations.

Ms Edwards, from Farnworth, said: “If I had listened and kept up the fluids, he would have been dead. It would have killed him.

“I have waited seven months and I don’t feel I am any further than I was when I first put in a complaint.

“I want the nurse to be given some training and lessons to be learnt from this.

“Someone else might have listened to the advice and done what she said and could wake up and not have their child any more.”

After Logan was rushed to A&E and diagnosed with the potentially fatal condition, he spent six months having 12 hours of dialysis every day.

Since his transplant, his health is improving and he is looking forward to starting school at The Ferns Primary Academy in Farnworth this month.

A spokesman from NHS Bolton said: “In this instance, it has taken longer than we would have liked to address this issue, as the device that recorded out-of-hours calls had developed a technical issue.

“We apologise for the length of time that this process has taken and would like to wish Logan well as he continues his recovery.”

NHS Bolton has defended the out-of-hours service and stressed that patients are asked to call back if they see no improvement following initial advice.