Latest news with #BenedictBlythe
BBC News
12-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Five stories in Peterborough you might have missed this week
An epic walk between Peterborough United's football stadium and the nation's capital helped raise money for an 11-year-old with cancer, while a box of abandoned kittens were discovered by the city's volunteer litter pickers. Here are five stories from Peterborough you might have missed this week. Call for 'Benedict's Law' to protect children with allergies The family of a five-year-old boy who died from a severe allergic reaction at school are calling for a new law to help keep children Blythe died after accidental exposure to an allergen - cow's milk protein - at Barnack Primary School in December inquest jury found the school did not follow all the measures in place to prevent the fatal anaphylactic reaction - and there were risks of contamination with other milk and delays in administering an adrenalin pen. Police walk between football grounds for Millie, 11 A group of police officers have covered a 95-mile (150km) route between football stadiums to raise money for an 11-year-old girl diagnosed with was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer last year and had to have her left leg amputated above the knee. Her parents are trying to buy a new artificial leg for her.A group of 60 people walked from Peterborough United's ground on London Road to the home of Millie's favourite team Chelsea FC, at Stamford Bridge, west London. Kitten litter found by city litter pickers Volunteer litter pickers got more than they bargained for when they found a box with six kittens tiny creatures were discovered abandoned and alone on a path near Peterborough's Embankment area on Thursday by Peterborough Litter group immediately called a local cat rescue charity which came along to collect them. 'We have many bus stops, but zero buses' People have voiced concerns that recently installed bus stops around their village will become redundant when a bus service ends next near Ramsey, currently has three bus stops for the 31 bus route, operated by Stagecoach, which connects the village with Ramsey, Whittlesey and full service will stop running in Bury on 31 August, but the 31 route will continue to serve Whittlesey and Peterborough, Stagecoach said."Bury will be the place with so many bus stops, but zero buses servicing it," said 16-year-old student Harriet Copley, who will be attending college in Peterborough from September. Community space to open in football club's old shop Plans to open a new community space in Peterborough United's former club shop have been would lead to meetings, social events, and activities including yoga, being held next to the Weston Homes Stadium entrance. The week in politics Plans for a £15m city regeneration project to refurbish a library and build a food hall and business incubator have moved a step City Council has been asked to approve the award of construction contracts for a project known as The council originally wanted to use the former TK Maxx building in Bridge Street before deciding this was unviable. Separately, that building is being put out to market. Meanwhile, a report revealed that safety measures to protect people at Peterborough Town Hall could cost £900,000. It comes after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was found on the second floor of the civic building last year. Finally, Peterborough City Council's leader Dennis Jones said the authority would be reviewing all organisations and companies benefitting from rent and rate relief. It came after it was revealed a community radio station set up by former council leader Wayne Fitzgerald had been benefitting from the relief for nine years. He said the arrangement was reviewed annually by the council and that the station provided community value. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Sky News
11-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
'My son died from a milk allergy at school - I want to make sure it never happens again'
The mother of a five-year-old boy who died after he was accidentally exposed to the wrong milk at school is calling for a new law to keep other children with allergies safe. Benedict Blythe, a reception pupil at Barnack Primary School in Stamford, Lincolnshire, suffered fatal anaphylaxis after he was accidentally exposed to cow's milk protein, probably from his own cup during break time. An inquest into his death found the school's delay in giving him his EpiPen, a failure to share his allergy plan, and a failure to learn from a previous allergic reaction, all likely contributed to his death. Benedict died in December 2021, and the family have now waited more than three years for answers, with the inquest concluding this week. He had a number of allergies, including cow's milk protein, eggs, nuts and kiwi fruit. Benedict, who joined the high-IQ society Mensa at the age of four, loved school, his mother Helen told Sky News. "He was ferociously intelligent," she said. "He was doing Year Five maths when he had just started school." He was also "kind and considerate", she said, describing how her son once spent his entire lunchtime helping a friend find a lost scooter. "We walked into school one day and he noticed a child that looked a bit nervous, and said, I'll take you in, took his hand and walked him into school." She continued: "That kind of calm, positive energy, that is always missing and we will never come across it again. It's a really hard thing to have lost." During break time, Benedict was to be served oat milk, which was stored in the staff fridge with his name on. The usual process was to take this into the classroom and pour it into his cup, handing it to him directly. But on the day of his death, his milk was poured in the staffroom and then taken into the classroom. It is not clear how the cross-contamination or mix-up of milk could have happened, but the foreperson of the jury at the inquest said: "We deem the probable source of the allergen that caused the fatal anaphylaxis is the ingestion of cow's milk protein, most probably from his own receptacle during break time." Benedict vomited twice and lost consciousness before his adrenaline pen was administered. By the time he reached hospital, it was too late. Benedict was five years old when he died. Helen said the school had been told vomiting was "always" the first sign of an allergic reaction, but the pen was given too late to be effective. "The advice is, if in doubt, don't delay," she said. "The worst that will happen with giving adrenaline is that they will feel a bit ropey, but the risk of delaying it... probably even a minute earlier could have had an impact." A previous reaction This was the second time Benedict had an allergic reaction at school, having previously been sick while eating a pizza. And while she was keen to stress she did not blame individual staff members, the inquest found no allergy plan was created by the school, and there was no specific allergy policy when he started school. Staff responsible were also not privy to key information about Benedict's allergy. "Benedict's death was preventable and was caused by a cascade of failures - individual, institutional, and systemic," Helen said, shortly after the inquest returned its verdict. In a statement, Benedict's former school said: "The only comment that Barnack Primary School wishes to make at this point in time, is to offer its sincere and heartfelt condolences to Benedict's family at the tragic loss of Benedict." Benedict's Law There is currently no legislation that exists to protect children with allergies, and so Helen is working to ensure no other children die at school from an allergy. "Schools are left to interpret patchy, vague guidance and to carry life-or-death responsibility alone. This is unforgivable," she said. Following a campaign by the Benedict Blythe Foundation, set up in his memory, Redditch MP Chris Bloor presented the Schools (Allergy Safety) Bill, also known as Benedict's Law to parliament on 9 July. "With an ever-growing number of children requiring allergy care, it has never been more vital that the place we entrust with the care of our children - the school where we drop them off every day - is a safe and secure environment, but too often it is not," he told the House of Commons. The law would require an allergy policy in every school, training for staff on how to identify reactions and deal with them, and spare adrenaline pens in every school. It is backed by more than 50 MPs, a petition signed by more than 10,000 members of the public. "We've done a huge amount of research and kind of built a really strong evidence base for this, including kind of a way of delivering Benedict's Law so that it means it doesn't cost the government any money," Helen told Sky News. Most children with undiagnosed allergies have a reaction for the first time at school, she said. "Humans will always make mistakes, but there has to be a system in the background that allows for that because at the moment it is left up to chance when things go wrong."
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Stamford MP calls for action after Benedict Blythe allergy death
An MP said the government could "no longer hide behind" the inquest into the death of a five-year-old boy and has called for "urgent action" to be taken to ensure children with allergies feel safe at Blythe, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, died after accidental exposure to an allergen - cow's milk protein - at Barnack Primary School in December Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford, said she would "do everything in my power to protect" children with allergies in Benedict's memory after an inquest jury found staff did not follow all the measures in place to prevent the Department for Education said it would "consider the jury's conclusions carefully". On Wednesday, the inquest jury at Peterborough Town Hall also found there were risks of contamination with other milk and delays in administering an adrenalin Conservative MP's comments comes after Benedict's family called for a new law to make it compulsory for all schools to have spare allergy pens, allergy-trained staff, and a school allergy mother, Helen Blythe, said introducing Benedict's Law was an "opportunity for government to learn and introduce measures to stop this happening in future."Posting on social media, Kearns wrote: "I can only offer my deepest condolences, and my relief they [family] finally have the answers they deserved and were denied for too long."No parent should worry their child won't come home from school, and I will do everything in my power to protect them in Benedict's memory," she added. On Wednesday, the Labour MP for Redditch, Chris Bloore, introduced a private members' bill calling for allergy safety training in told the Commons: "With an ever-growing number of children requiring allergy care, it has never been more vital that the place we entrust with the care of our children - the school where we drop them off every day - is a safe and secure environment."A Department for Education spokesperson said: "What happened to Benedict was a tragedy for his family and deeply affected all those involved on the day that he died."In a statement, the school said it offered "its sincere and heartfelt condolences to Benedict's family". Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Times
10-07-2025
- Health
- Times
‘Faster response could have saved my son from milk allergy death'
The mother of a boy who died at school after suffering from an allergic reaction has said that 'a moment's difference would have saved his life'. Benedict Blythe, a member of the high-IQ society Mensa, was just five when he experienced the fatal anaphylactic episode at Barnack primary school in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in December 2021. An eight-day inquest at Peterborough town hall concluded on Wednesday that the death of the 'gifted schoolboy', who had milk, egg and nut allergies, was caused by accidentally ingesting cow's milk from his own drinking receptacle, which was stored at his school. Helen Blythe, his mother, told The Times she believes there were a 'series of failures' that led to his death, including staff missing initial signs of the reaction, which caused his adrenaline autoinjector 'being administered too late'. 'It is heartbreaking … if it had been given even a minute earlier, then he might have lived,' Blythe said through pursed lips. 'Milk was poison to him.' The inquest found that among the probable causes of Benedict's death were the delayed administration of his EpiPen and opportunities for cross-contamination with lactose-free milk relating to the storage of his bottle at school. 'He was very aware of his allergies, but I think it was only kind of in the month or two before he died that he started to feel anxious,' she added. Blythe said that she had channelled her 'heartbreak' into campaigning for Benedict's Law, or the School Allergy Safety Bill, which plans to enforce a nationwide allergy policy in every UK school. It sets out training for staff to respond quickly to an emergency and guidelines on stocking spare adrenaline pens. 'Benedict dying was devastating [but] my son is not the first child to die from allergies at school. He [will] not be the last child to die from an allergy in an English school. And that means that we can't sit around waiting for long consultations that may take years to pass. There are children at risk in schools now. 'If in doubt do not delay [treatment] was the message that hadn't reached some of the people that were providing care for [Benedict]. We want the government to respond quickly now.' Elizabeth Gray, the area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, previously told the hearing that Benedict had been kept off school on November 30 after his mother called in to inform them he was sick. But Blythe said he in fact was 'not unwell' and had been just managing 'a common, life-long night cough', adding that 'he was fit to return to school'. She said Benedict had a flexible schooling schedule because of his advanced learning. He returned on December 1 and during his morning break was seen eating a gingerbread biscuit brought from home, the inquest heard. He then returned to the classroom, where he was offered oat milk, which the school claimed he refused. He then fell ill — vomiting and collapsing — and later was pronounced dead at Peterborough City Hospital. Amy Jones, the head teacher, told the inquest that Benedict's oat milk was labelled and kept in a staff fridge, which also stored lactose-free milk for another child in the class. Last week, Dr Shuaib Nasser told the hearing that lactose-free milk was 'just as allergenic to a child [who is] allergic to cow's milk'. • Inspired by loss, law graduate fights for allergy safety reforms Blythe said: 'I remember having a conversation with his dad and we said, 'He just needs to go to school, make some friends, and they just need to keep him alive'. 'He loved school, he absolutely loved it. On his first week, he cried when he realised he couldn't go to school at the weekend. Ben would wake up at five o'clock in the morning and want to play numbers and do maths and loved worksheets and problems.' She added: 'The things that we miss much more is his kindness, curiosity and bubbling energy.'
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Family want law to keep children with allergies safe at school
The family of a five-year-old boy who died from a severe allergic reaction at school are calling for a new law to help keep children Blythe died after accidental exposure to an allergen - cow's milk protein -at Barnack Primary School, between Stamford and Peterborough, in December inquest jury found the school did not follow all the measures in place to prevent the fatal anaphylactic reaction - and there were risks of contamination with other milk and delays in administering an adrenalin mother, Helen Blythe, said introducing Benedict's Law was an "opportunity for government to learn and introduce measures to stop this happening in future." A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it would "consider the jury's conclusions carefully".The school has been approached for comment. Benedict loved school, his mum told the BBC. "The first week he went to school when he started, he cried when he came home on the Friday because he realised he didn't get to go to school on the weekends," she said."It was like he had been waiting his entire life for the opportunity to go to school and learn - and he was really fortunate that he a group of good friends really quickly." Benedict had asthma and a number of allergies, including eggs, nuts, kiwi fruit and milk, she Blythe was assured the school had policies and training to manage his allergies, and said it was "one of the reasons we felt secure and safe in him going to the school". "We have since found out through the course of the inquest that wasn't the case," she parents said they had worked with the school to put together an allergy action plan and informed them that vomiting was "always" the first symptom of a plan also included a specific process for storing, preparing and supplying oat milk to their son. It involved storing the milk, labelled with the child's name, in the staff fridge and pouring it into Benedict's cup in the classroom before handing it directly to inquest heard that on the day of his death, that process was not followed because his milk had been poured in the staff room and then taken to him in the classroom. On 1 December, while at school Benedict vomited twice before he 12:57 GMT he was pronounced dead at Peterborough City Hospital due to food-induced anaphylaxis."I think any parent would dread the call from the school to say their child was unwell," Mrs Blythe said."Learning that's a call that they are seriously unwell is something I think will strike fear into anyone's heart - it certainly did mine and it's a call I think every parent hopes they will never receive, and unfortunately we did."She said she believed his death was preventable.A jury found "probable causes" of Benedict's death included the delayed administration of his adrenaline, opportunities for cross-contamination or mix up of milk, and that his allergy plan was not shared with teaching also said there were missed opportunities to review "lessons learned" from a previous incident, when Benedict was served pizza for lunch at school in October 2021, which resulted in him being sick. The family wants the government to introduce Benedict's Law, to keep children with allergies safe at school. It would make it compulsory for all schools to have spare allergy pens, allergy-trained staff, and a school allergy policy."Changing the law to protect other children should be absolutely top of their priority list," Mrs Blythe said."Children's wellbeing is at stake and their lives, ultimately. I think it would be foolish of them not to listen." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
