Toddler died after op was delayed by mix-up over beds
A TODDLER had a heart attack and died after being forced to wait three days for emergency surgery because of a mix-up over beds.
There was ‘gross failure’ at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH) as ‘unacceptable delays’ led to 20-monthold Kayden Urmston-Bancroft’s death, a coroner ruled yesterday.
Kayden was taken to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport on April 11, 2016, after falling and banging his mouth on a bottle, causing his lips to turn blue.
Medical staff discovered the little boy had a hole in his diaphragm and he was transferred to RMCH the following day for an operation on the life-threatening hernia – but there was no bed available in the hospital’s high dependency unit.
In fact, a bed was not requested for Kayden until three days later, at midday on April 15, even though records revealed there were three beds available that day.
Consultant Mohamed Shoukry ‘inexplicably’ thought the bed for Kayden had been taken by another emergency, the inquest was told. There was also ‘ confusion’ over exactly which consultant was responsible for Kayden’s care.
By April 15 Kayden was very poorly. He suffered a cardiac arrest and never regained consciousness. He died on April 17. Kayden’s family have now criticised medical staff for ‘letting them down in the worst way possible’. They said: ‘ We begged them to help him over and over, but instead we had to watch him fade away. He died in pain and that’s the thing I don’t think we can ever forgive.’
Hospital boss Sir Michael Deegan admitted it was likely the toddler would have survived if operated upon sooner.
He apologised to Kayden’s mother, Shannon Bancroft, 21, who broke down at the end of the four-day hearing, .
Kayden’s grandmother, Julie Rowlands, 44, who read Mr Men stories to him as he passed away, previously told the Daily Mail: ‘ His care was appalling. He was basically put in a room and left.’
Coroner Angharad Davies found Kayden, from Stockport, died of natural causes, contributed to by neglect, and said the ‘unacceptable delay’ in surgery was ‘sufficiently serious to amount to a gross failure’.
Professor Robert Pearson, spokesman for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs RMCH, said: ‘We offer our sincere condolences to Kayden’s family and profound apologies for the lapse in standards which led to his death.’