THE parents of a 15-month-old girl who has been diagnosed with stage four cancer have hit out at her doctors.

Racheal Flynn is currently waiting for a course of chemotherapy at Manchester Children’s Hospital to tackle a tumour sitting behind her stomach before she undergoes surgery to remove it.

The Darwen youngster was admitted to the hospital following a 10-week battle by her parents to get her treated after a ‘lack of care and attention’ was given to her at Darwen Medical Centre and Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Dad Mark said that if the ‘right’ decisions had been taken months ago then his daughter would have been diagnosed with neuroblastoma earlier.

Mum June, 43, who is currently pregnant with the couple’s fifth child, is being put up at the hospital in a bid to make her youngest child more at ease through the process.

Mark, 57, who runs an ice cream van and lives with the family in Highfield Mews, said: “I can’t believe what has happened and it has hit the whole family very hard.

“If a blood test had been taken weeks ago then that would have flagged up that she was anaemic which would have signalled that something was seriously wrong.

“Just being fobbed off with paracetamol and penicillin after multiple visits to the GP and the hospital is simply not good enough.

“After visiting the doctors and coming away with paracetamol her temperature shot up to 39.4C and we called an ambulance and she was rushed to A&E in Blackburn.

“They thought it was tonsillitis and she was given more drugs and we were sent away.

“We went back to the doctors and again nothing was really done so we asked to be transferred to another doctor.

“It was only then that she was given a blood test and they thought it was leukaemia so she was sent to the hospital in Manchester.

“We are all so angry about the low level of care that she was given and I hope that something is done about it.”

Dr Ian Stanley, acting medical director at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are very sorry that Racheal has been diagnosed with this significant illness and we wish her and the family all the best with her treatment.

“Patient confidentiality means we are unable to discuss the medical care and treatment provided to Racheal by the trust but we always strive to offer the best care to all our patients.

“If Mr Flynn has any concerns around the treatment and care provided to his daughter I would urge him to get in touch directly so we can investigate further.”

Dr Raj Patel, medical director for Lancashire and Greater Manchester at NHS England responding on behalf of the medical centre, said: “We would like to offer thoughts to this patient and their family, at what must be an extremely difficult time for them.

“We have not received any formal complaint regarding this patient’s care, however we take all complaints about the services we commission very seriously, and would be happy to speak to the family about the care and treatment this patient has received from their GP practice.”

Neuroblastoma is a cancer of specialised nerve cells called neural crest cells. These cells are involved in the development of the nervous system and other tissues.

Fewer than 100 children in the UK are diagnosed each year with the cancer and most are under five-years-old, according to the Macmillan cancer charity.

In recent years two children from the Darwen area have been diagnosed with the cancer.

Six-year-old Sam Shaw, from Hoddlesden, underwent gruelling treatment in America, with his most recent scans coming back clear.

Madison Allan, seven, from Lower Darwen, captured the hearts of people across East Lancashire after she was diagnosed. She died in December 2011 and a charity Maddi’s Butterflies has been set up in her memory.