FALSELY REASSURED IT WAS JUST A COUGH

PARENTS of a baby who died after a 111 nurse adviser failed to recognise he was seriously ill said they had been ‘failed’ by the service and would never use it again.

Eleven-week- old Sebastian randle (pictured above) died after his parents were ‘falsely reassured’ by a 111 worker that the baby was not in need of urgent help, an inquest heard.

Sebastian had a temperature of 39c (102f), a fever and a cough when his father, Daniel, called for advice. But his high temperature was not flagged up as a potential danger sign because of a ‘defect’ in the computer system which is used by the call handlers – who have no clinical training – to advise patients.

The handler who answered the call focused on the infant’s cough – despite Mr randle repeatedly stressing that he was more concerned about Sebastian’s high temperature.

As a result, the 10.55pm call was categorised as being about a baby with a cough before Mr randle was transferred to the nurse, Amy Chapman. Nurse Chapman was five minutes from the end of her shift when the call was put through to her just before 11pm.

She advised Mr randle and his wife Helen simply to keep the baby cool and look for any signs his condition was deteriorating.

Around seven hours later, the couple noticed a rash on his body and dialled 999 – but by this time it was too late.

Sebastian died at 9.45am that morning of a rare strain of meningitis and septicaemia. An inquest heard Miss Chapman had failed to recognise three ‘red flag’ symptoms – temperature, the age of the patient and his limpness. The nurse had ‘falsely reassured’ the randles, assistant coroner Louise Pinder added.

Mr randle, 34, said: ‘We thought Seb just had a cold, but we rang 111 because we were concerned about his high temperature.

‘I mentioned he had a bit of a cough and they focused on that. ‘But the problem was they were not listening to what I was saying about the temperature.’

He said the couple, who have a second son, Max, aged ten months, had ‘lost all faith’ in the service and would never call it again. In our time of need, when we most needed some expert advice, 111 failed us,’ he said.

At the inquest last July, the nurse apologised to the randles and admitted that, if she had realised the severity of his symptoms, she would have called in an out-of-hours GP.

Arriving at a narrative conclusion Miss Pinder, assistant coroner for Derbyshire, said there was ‘a failure to recognise the significance of his symptoms’ by 111 but added that ‘it would not, on a balance of probabilities, have altered the outcome’.

Derbyshire Health United acknowledged a clear ‘failing in the quality of care’ and apologised. Mr randle, from Breadsall, said the NHS’s care for Sebastian had been beyond reproach from the point he had dialled 999.