Hospital missed chances to stop boy's sepsis death

Telegraph

03-07-2025

A hospital missed opportunities to treat a three-year-old boy who later died from sepsis, an inquest jury found.
Theo Tuikubulau had been gradually getting sicker with a high temperature, flu-like symptoms and breathing difficulties, and was reluctant to eat or drink.
The jury returned a narrative conclusion and highlighted three 'missed opportunities' when his mother had called the 72-hour open access line, the differences in 111 and 999 categorisations, and the allocation of ambulances following the emergency call as being contributory factors.
'From this, Theo died from an invasive Group Strep A infection contributed by missed opportunities to render earlier care and treatment,' they said.
The four-day hearing heard Theo was first admitted to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, on the afternoon of July 6 2022 with a suspected upper respiratory infection, but discharged a few hours later.
Kayleigh Kenneford, his mother, explained that her son's condition had not been improving as she looked after him at home.
'I remembered that the doctor had said that Theo might get worse before he got better, so I was thinking that it was his body fighting the infection,' she told the inquest.
'I was watching my son deteriorate and just thinking that this was how things were supposed to happen, that he would get worse before he got better, but really, he was dying.'
Ms Kenneford called the 72-hour, open access line listed in a discharge letter, but said she felt 'fobbed off' by a nurse.
An hour later, at 11pm, she called 111 and after a further three calls, an ambulance arrived at their home near Plymouth shortly before 12.30am.
Theo reached the hospital just after 1am, some 90 minutes after Ms Kenneford first called 111. He received emergency treatment but suffered cardiac arrest at 1.35am and died a short time later. The cause of death was from sepsis, caused by an 'invasive' Strep A infection.
Before Theo's first admission, call handlers from the South West Ambulance Service Trust had graded his case as category one, meaning it was life-threatening.
When Ms Kenneford called 111, her son's case was rated at category two by service operator Herts Urgent Care, which led to the ambulance taking longer to respond.
Jon Knight, head of emergency operations at the South West Ambulance Service Trust, said that had the call been answered by his team it would have been graded as a category one.
Asked about a likely response time, he replied: 'It certainly would have been quicker than 90 minutes, would be my belief.'
The inquest heard that, had the ambulance reached Theo within the national target, he could have been in hospital by midnight.
Prof Damian Roland, a paediatric consultant in emergency medicine, said he could say when the sepsis had developed but once an 'inflammatory cascade' begins it 'can be difficult, sometimes impossible to stop'.
'I am very clear about the fact that the night before (July 6), we were not in a cascade situation,' he said.
The inquest heard it was difficult to know what the outcome would have been if Theo had been readmitted to the hospital after his mother spoke with the nurse on the phone or following the 111 call.
'I can't say on the balance of probability that intervention by 11pm would have made a critical difference,' he said.
Assistant coroner Louise Wiltshire asked: 'Is it likely on balance of probabilities that Theo would have died when he did if appropriate care and treatment was administered at 11pm?'
Prof Roland replied: 'I think had he arrived earlier, I think it is possible that he would not have suffered the cardiac arrest at that point.'
He was asked about what could have happened had Theo arrived at the hospital by midnight if the 111 call had been graded as a category one emergency.
'I think some earlier treatment would have especially delayed the collapse,' Prof Roland said.
At the end of the inquest, Ms Wiltshire said she had concerns about the 111 and 999 systems for grading calls which 'appear to create a two-tier system particularly if both are used in the same geographical area'.