Family call for new report into 5-year-old's death after he was sent home from Rotherham Hospital
Yusuf Mahmud Nazir's family are meeting with the Shadow Health Secretary
The family of a 5-year-old who died after being sent home from hospital in Rotherham are calling for a new report into his death.
Yusuf Mahmud Nazir was diagnosed with severe tonsillitis.
His family are heading down to parliament today to meet with Wes Streeting , who is the Shadow Health Secretary.
Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died on 23rd November 2022 - eight days after he was seen at Rotherham Hospital and sent home with antibiotics to treat severe tonsillitis.
An independent inquiry took place looking into Yusuf's care, after his family complained that he should have been admitted and given intravenous antibiotics on the night of November 15th.
Yusuf's uncle, Zaheer Ahmed, says the family raised repeated concerns about breathing episodes where Yusuf kept jerking awake and gasping for air. He doesn't feel they were properly listened to or taken seriously.
The report set out how Yusuf, who had asthma, was taken to the GP with a sore throat on November 15, as he had a sore throat and was feeling unwell, and he was prescribed antibiotics by an advanced nurse practitioner.
Later that evening, his parents took him to Rotherham Hospital Urgent & Emergency Care Centre (UECC) where he was seen in the early hours of the morning after a six-hour wait.
Yusuf was discharged with a diagnosis of severe tonsillitis and an extended prescription of antibiotics, the report said.
Two days later, Yusuf was given further antibiotics by his GP for a possible chest infection, but his family became so concerned they called an ambulance and insisted the paramedics take him to Sheffield Children's Hospital rather than Rotherham.
The report published by NHS South Yorkshire concluded: "We consider that on the basis of Yusuf's observations, presentation and diagnosis there was a reasonable expectation that the antibiotics prescribed were appropriate and an admission was not clinically required."
It also concluded that "a bed would have been found" if an admission had been deemed necessary.
It found that there were effectively 22 beds on the children's assessment unit and the children's ward and, between 1am and 5am on November 16, between 17 and 19 were occupied.
Dr Jo Beahan, Medical Director at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “All of us were incredibly saddened by Yusuf’s tragic death. Our thoughts and sympathies continue to be with Yusuf’s family.
“We fully cooperated with the independent investigation into Yusuf’s death which was published in October, which found the medical care provided to Yusuf in Rotherham’s Urgent and Emergency Care Centre was appropriate, and there was nothing that could have been done differently that would have changed the tragic outcome.”