Children with arthritis 'facing delays to diagnosis'

Delays diagnosing and treating children with arthritis are leaving them in pain and at a higher risk of lifelong damage, a national charity has warned.

Arthritis is commonly thought to affect only older people, but 15,000 children have the condition in the UK. 

Versus Arthritis says many children are not getting help soon enough. 

The NHS said: "Arthritis in young people is rare and diagnosing it can be difficult because symptoms are often vague and no specific test exists."

Zoe Chivers, Head of Services at Versus Arthritis, said: "We know that young people often face significant delays getting to diagnosis simply because even their GPs don't recognise that it's a condition that can affect people as young as two. It's often considered that they're just going through growing pains or they've just got a bit of a viral infection and that's not the case."

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Source: BBC News, 12 February 2020