Herefordshire mother wrongly told her son was clinically obese by health officials

Kate Davies, whose five-year-old son Oliver attends Dilwyn Primary School, says she panicked on receiving the letter, which said her son was at risk of serious health problems following a test last month.

The letter from NHS Herefordshire arrived after pupils had been weighed and measured as part of the health authority’s battle against childhood obesity.

“It said I had a clinically obese child at risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Miss Davies, who lives near Ivington. “I went into a panic and thought: ‘what am I going to do now?’ I was told the results were correct as the people doing the tests were professionally trained and my own measurements were wrong because my son’s head must have been tilted.”

Believing the results to be incorrect, the concerned mother contacted NHS Herefordshire and questioned the results. A second test in early May produced radically different results.

“The first time they said he was 102cm and the second one said he was 122cm,” said Miss Davies. “He has grown quickly but not that quickly.”

Carla Preston, press officer for NHS Herefordshire, said a written apology has been sent and the cause of the error investigated.

“The revised measurement suggested that the child was taller than originally thought, producing different results when analysed,” she said.

She added that thousands of children in reception and Year 6 had been successfully measured to help overweight children enjoy a healthier lifestyle.