An anxious mother has criticised health workers for not treating her daughter's disability seriously enough.

Michelle Edwards, 23, of Rectory Park in Northolt, said her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Sophie has had severe difficulty walking and talking for the last 18 months.

Sophie attends Windmill Nursery Centre and is registered with a child development team at Carmelita House in West Ealing, but her mother is frustrated care staff are refusing to diagnose her as disabled or give her a scan.

Ms Edwards said: "It's really upsetting because she's my daughter and I want to know what's wrong with her and get to the bottom of it.

"She can stand up but she can't walk and she has to crawl. The only word she can say is 'mum' but that's not even to call me; it's just the only word she can say.

"The child development team said they would make an appointment with Sophie in July but I haven't heard anything from them since then."

Ms Edwards said she had been told Sophie was suffering from global developmental delay, a condition, sometimes temporary, where the child is less developed mentally or physically than is normal for its age.

"I thought she might be suffering from autism as I've done a bit of research into her condition, but they won't even let me book her in for an MRI scan."

Speaking to the Gazette on Tuesday, Fiona Harcombe, assistant director of communications at Ealing Primary Care Trust, said: "The child is known to the child development team and has received a diagnosis.

"Obviously, the mother has not given us permission to speak about this so I cannot break patient confidentiality.

"However, I can say that there are medical criteria by which we judge whether a child requires an MRI scan.

"If a child does not fit those criteria then we will not refer that child for a scan."