The action group Thalidomide UK says doctors are not trained to perform even the most basic medical tasks on them, and that many people have suffered unnecessary pain and distress as a result.

The group plans to take its case to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming the Department of Health has been negligent in providing basic health care.

Activistis want to see the creation of a national centre doctors can refer to for help.

There are 458 surviving people who suffered as a result of their mothers taking thalidomide during pregnancy.

'Treated like a pin cushion'

Thalidomide UK chairman Freddie Astbury, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, says he has been treated like a "pin cushion" by a doctor who tried 25 times to find a vein in his hand for a blood test.

He said other victims have been rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis only for surgeons to find they were born without an appendix.

Mr Astbury said: "For too long we have just been ignored.

"Doctors, particularly the younger ones, just have no idea where to start.

"Many of them have never seen a thalidomide person before.

"Because of the lack of medical knowledge in the UK, victims are being put in danger."

Mr Astbury, who was born with deformed arms and legs, is calling on the department to set up the specialist centre and database at a UK hospital to which GPs can refer for advice.

Thalidomide was given to pregnant women to combat morning sickness in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

However, it was later discovered that the drug was able to cross the placental membrane and cause developmental abnormalities in the foetus.

In particular, thalidomide produced babies born with shortened and malformed limbs.

The drug was banned in the early 1960s, but not before it had caused more than 10,000 babies to be deformed world-wide.