Toddler died ‘after surgery put off due to lack of beds’
INQUEST TOLD THAT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL WAS ‘EXTREMELY BUSY’
A TODDLER died after waiting three days for crucial surgery, which was repeatedly delayed because no beds were available, an inquest heard.
Kayden Urmston-Bancroft required an ‘urgent’ procedure at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but it kept being ‘put off,’ the coroner was told.
The 20-month-old passed away surrounded by his family as his grandmother read him Mr Men stories.
Kayden was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, but it was only discovered when the youngster was taken to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport after falling from a bed and banging his face in April 2016.
An X-ray showed that part of his bowel had burst through the hole in his diaphragm and he was transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital [RMCH] for urgent surgery. But three days later, the youngster was still waiting for surgery and went into cardiac arrest. Kayden, from Stockport, was rushed to theatre, but tragically never regained consciousness and died shortly afterwards.
The inquest into his death at Manchester Coroner’s Court yesterday heard that Kayden’s surgery had been repeatedly delayed because there were no beds available on the children’s High Dependency Unit [HDU].
One senior consultant described the children’s hospital as ‘extremely busy’ during the little boy’s treatment.
His grandmother, Julie Rowlands, said she and Kayden’s mum, Shannon Bancroft, had expected him to have immediate surgery after being transferred to RMCH from Stepping Hill on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. “We were under the impression he would be transferred to the children’s hospital and have the operation straight away,” Ms Rowlands told the court.
“We thought they were ready to do it. When we arrived we were put in a room and the F1s [junior doctors] were saying a car crash victim had come in.
“By Wednesday Kayden was still in pain so I rang Stepping Hill saying they had still not done it.” She added: “It was just put off day by day.”
Ms Bancroft, in a statement read out in court, described the signs of pain and discomfort her son showed while in hospital. She said on the Thursday, Kayden was ‘still screaming and seemed to be in a lot pain.’
“We were told the only reason for the delay was the lack of beds and that was what we were waiting for,” Ms Bancroft’s statement read.
On the Friday evening, Ms Bancroft said Kayden still would not settle. Sensing something was wrong, the mum called the nurses to check on her son.
She noticed he was pale and that his lips had started to turn blue. Kayden then went into cardiac arrest.
Doctors and nurses resuscitated Kayden for just under half an hour while his distraught mother looked on.
Kayden regained a pulse and was rushed to theatre for his operation. He was taken to the intensive care unit but never regained consciousness. Ms Bancroft made the heartbreaking decision to turn off her son’s life-support machine on Sunday, April 17, 2016.
A pathology report accepted as evidence in court concluded Kayden had died of natural causes linked to acute inflammation of the pericardial sac, peritonitis and stomach perforation.
Proceeding