Medics under fire after baby tragedy

A CORONER has criticised hospital staff for failings in the care of a premature baby who died.

Sophia Gallier was born at 28 weeks at Royal Oldham Hospital on February 18 last year, alongside her twin sister Sienna, who survived.

The coroner at the inquest said that Sophia’s death could not have been avoided, but that a rash on the tot’s body ‘should have been noticed far earlier.’

On the evening of February 26, a nurse on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit noticed the rash on her body. She was also ‘floppy’ and unresponsive. She was given intravenous antibiotics, but her condition continued to deteriorate and she died two days later. The cause of death was sepsis.

The rash was picked up by nurse Lindsay Rawlinson shortly after she started her shift at around 9pm.

Coroner Lisa Hashmi told the hearing at the Phoenix Centre in Heywood: “Failing to notice the rash seems to me to be a serious omission. It was spotted immediately by one nurse, but not by the one who had been caring for her for hours. It beggars belief.”

She also noted that there had been a ‘degree of miscommunication between doctors and nurses in relation to the expectations around Sophia’s care.’

Ms Hashmi also accused Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Royal Oldham, of ‘back pedalling’ on the findings of its own investigation, as laid out in a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report.

According to the RCA there were ‘subtle signs of sepsis’ on February 24, but the medical staff giving evidence at the inquest said that sepsis was not indicated until the rash was spotted.

Ms Hashmi said: “I am deeply sorry that this family have had to be taken through an inquest process and dragged through the emotions yet again.

“I am not convinced by any of the witnesses from the trust because there have been so many inconsistencies undermined by a lack of record-keeping.”

Dr Ravi Aqawal, consultant neonatologist at the trust, told the coroner they ‘had learned a huge amount’ from what happened to Sophia, and ‘ lot has changed in our practice.’

Ms Hashmi said that, despite her ‘grave concerns’ surrounding Sophia’s care, ‘I do not believe that Sophia’s death could have been avoided because of the rapidity with which the infection spread.’

She recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes.