The mother whose pure instinct saved her baby from deadly sepsis
WITH her nine-week-old daughter running a high temperature, Laura Daykin rang the NHS 111 helpline and was reassured a doctor would call her back within the hour.
But instinct told her that baby Heidi was gravely ill and so she took her straight to hospital – where doctors spent five days treating her for sepsis.
Yesterday Mrs Daykin said medics told her that her quick action probably saved Heidi’s life, and urged the NHS to overhaul training for 111 call handlers so that they are better prepared to spot symptoms of the potentially fatal condition.
The Daily Mail’s End the Sepsis Scandal campaign was launched after the death of one-year-old William Mead. He developed sepsis in 2014 following a chest infection but his symptoms were missed by GPs, out-of-hours doctors and the NHS 111 helpline. His family, from Penryn, Cornwall, were repeatedly told ‘not to worry’.
Mrs Daykin, 25, a pharmacy assistant from Doncaster, urged other parents to trust their instincts, adding: ‘If I hadn’t gone with my gut instinct and got Heidi to hospital I have no doubt she wouldn’t be here today.
‘I was told by the call handler to wait for the doctor to ring me, but I knew time was of the essence and wasn’t prepared to take any chances. At hospital I was told several times that without my quick thinking, we would have faced a very different outcome.’
Sepsis is caused by the body’s response to an infection. Without quick treatment, it can lead to multiple organ failure and death.
Early symptoms in babies under three months can be a temperature under 36C or above 38C, or any high temperature in a child who cannot be encouraged to show interest in anything. Laboured breathing, grunting noises with each breath, a dry nappy for more than 12 hours, sunken eyes and floppiness could also occur.
Mrs Daykin noticed Heidi wasn’t well when she was getting ready to settle her for the night at the start of this month. ‘I was about to give Heidi her last bottle when I realised she was very hot to the th touch,’ she said. ‘Her temperature was 38.4C. I quickly Googled it and read anything above 38C is considered abnormal.
‘So I gave Heidi some Calpol and called 111. After recording all her symptoms the call handler told me I shouldn’t have given Heidi the paracetamol because she was under 12 weeks old, despite the fact her temperature had risen to 38.8 in the short time I was on the phone. But I knew it was the best thing to give a child to bring their temperature down.’
Mrs Daykin and her husband Thomas, 29, an electrician, drove Heidi to Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Medical staff reassured her that she had done the right thing in giving Heidi Calpol, but within an hour of arrival the infant’s temperature rocketed.
She was taken to a resuscitation room and ‘suddenly, there were three or four doctors all working on Heidi’, Mrs Daykin said.
‘She was wired up to machines and we were told our baby was struggling to fight off an infection. We were absolutely terrified we were going to lose her.’
Heidi was given intravenous antibiotics and had a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis before her parents were told the most likely explanation for her sudden deterioration was sepsis.
Fortunately after five days Heidi successfully fought off the infection and was discharged. Mrs Daykin said: ‘I was just so grateful to the doctors who saved her life.’
NHS England said: ‘Health professionals are spotting and treating more cases of sepsis than ever before, but there is still more we can do. We are working closely with the UK Sepsis Trust and medical leaders on awareness-raising, as well as introducing more measures to improve the chances of survival and reduce complications.’