Boy died of sepsis af ter nurse said he had ear infection
A TODDLER died of meningitis-related sepsis just hours after a hospital nurse misdiagnosed an ear infection and sent him home.
Alfie Coxon, two, had woken up with a high temperature and was holding his ears and neck in pain.
His worried mother Vicky Southern, 28, took him to the urgent care centre at Halton General Hospital in Cheshire, but he did not see a doctor.
Instead Alfie – who by this time was ‘moaning’ in pain – was seen by a nurse practitioner, who reassured his mother that he had an ear infection and sent him home with antibiotics.
Around eight hours later he was dead.
Doctors said Alfie had developed meningitis and died of meningococcal sepsis – blood poisoning brought on by the disease. It is thought the youngster had the Y strain of the infection, which is more common in teenagers and students and babies are not routinely vaccinated against.
Last night Miss Southern, of Runcorn, Cheshire, said the nurse was too quick to dismiss Alfie’s symptoms of a stiff neck and cold hands and feet – which are all associated with meningitis – because at that stage he didn’t have the tell-tale rash.
‘I believe we were let down by the nurse,’ she said.
‘If she had checked his neck and his cold hands and feet. If she had taken more time she would have known his neck was hurting. We’d told her about his neck and she ... dismissed it. But it would have given the antibiotics time to work. They could have saved him. Even if the outcome was the same at least he would have had a chance.’
The Daily Mail has fought to raise awareness and prevent needless deaths with the End the Sepsis Scandal campaign. Miss Southern, who has two daughters aged eight and six, said that following Alfie’s death hospital bosses insisted lessons will be learned.
But she added: ‘It’s taken my son to die for lessons to be learnt...I should have known but I trusted them.’
The tragedy unfolded on April 14 when Alfie awoke. Miss Southern took her son to hospital at 10.40am, with the nurse discharging him at 2pm. However, once home Alfie started vomiting and appeared ‘woozy.’ At 8pm a purple rash – a symptom of meningitis – started to appear on his body, so Miss Southern took him to a hospital in Warrington.
Doctors immediately recognised his condition was serious, but despite treatment Alfie suffered a cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated. He died at 10.15pm.
Miss Southern said: ‘Within the hour the spots had spread so fast his little body was covered ... At 9.30pm his little body couldn’t take any more. The hospital tried to save him for 45 minutes.’
Discussing the lack of vaccination for babies against the Y strain, she added: ‘Alfie had meningitis septicaemia Group Y. I read afterwards that they don’t offer the Y vaccine until after GCSEs.
‘How many babies have to die before they realise it needs to be given to them? We always look for the rash but in Alfie’s case the rash came last. People need to be more aware of the symptoms because they are so easily dismissed.’
Mel Pickup, chief executive at the Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We are supporting Alfie’s family following his death from meningococcal sepsis. If the family wish to discuss anything further with us ... we will support them.’