Boy, 8, dies after his nearest A&E turns him away
A BOY aged eight died after paramedics had to take him to a hospital a 23-minute ride away rather than two miles to his local A&E.
Callum Cartlidge was found unresponsive on a sofa 15 hours after he was sent home from hospital with what doctors said was a tummy bug.
As ambulance crews battled to revive him, they asked if they could take him to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire, near his family home.
But acute services for children were axed there in September because of a lack of junior doctors.
This meant Callum had to be taken 18 miles to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, where he was pronounced dead on arrival on Friday.
Yesterday his distraught mother, Stacy, 32, blamed the NHS for her son’s death. She said she will always be left wondering whether Callum could have been saved if he had been admitted to his local hospital.
She and her husband Adrian, 37, are waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination to discover what killed him but Mrs Cartlidge said paramedics had suggested sepsis could be to blame.
Mrs Cartlidge said her son had suf- fered from aching legs – a symptom of sepsis – since the start of the year but his GP said Callum, who had previously been in good health, was suffering from a viral infection.
Callum went to his GP eight days ago and was diagnosed with tonsillitis but started vomiting over the next 48 hours. When his mother took him back to the GP in Winyates, Redditch, on Thursday afternoon, the doctor sent him straight to hospital in Worcester by ambulance.
He was discharged at 11pm with what doctors thought was a tummy bug but was found collapsed on the sofa the following afternoon having suffered a cardiac arrest. Mrs Cartlidge said: ‘I hold the health service responsible, and for two reasons. The hospital should have taken blood tests when Callum was first admitted. But Callum should never have had to go there in the first place – a town the size of Redditch needs a fully-functioning hospital.
‘We just want answers, but more needs to be done to educate doctors about the signs of sepsis. The paramedics seemed to think it was a possibility but the doctors at the hospital said Callum had no symptoms.’
Blood tests taken after Callum died showed his organs were shutting down rapidly, the family have been told.
Last year the Mail launched a campaign for improved awareness among hospital staff and GPs to prevent needless deaths from sepsis. NHS watchdog NICE has since issued new guidelines.
MPs said Callum’s death exposed the
‘I hold the NHS responsible’ ‘More needs to be done about sepsis’
tragic consequences of the NHS’s growing staff shortages and pressures.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: ‘As with any sudden unexpected death in childhood there will be a referral to the coroner, a post-mortem and a full external investigation as well as our own internal processes. Until our investigations have been completed, we cannot comment further.’
Callum’s aunt Anita Stowe has set up a fundraising page to pay for a headstone and memorial garden. She said: ‘I always said there would be a death at the Alex when they started closing services like the children’s department. I didn’t think it would be one of my own.’ To donate, visit: gofundme. com/ tpvm24-callums-resting-place