Meningitis tot's mum breaks down as inquiry hears of medics' mistakes

A TODDLER who died of meningitis could have been saved if NHS 24 had got him to hospital earlier, according to a top doctor.

Medics battled to keep 20-month-old Kyle Ross alive but his condition had deteriorated too much by the time he arrived at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

A series of blunders by NHS 24 staff – including sending a taxi rather than an ambulance – had seen Kyle delayed in reaching treatment in April last year.

His machine had to be switched off the following day and the baby boy died in the arms of his dad Stuart.

Yesterday, a fatal accident inquiry heard from the doctor who cared for Kyle in his last few hours and had to tell his parents he couldn’t be saved.

Julie Freeman, a consultant anaesthesist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, admitted the delay could have been ‘a key factor’ and insisted Kyle would have had a better chance of survival if he had been seen earlier.

She said: “It is difficult to say if it would have changed the outcome. Kyle had a rapidly evolving form of this disease.

“Had he arrived to hospital and medics treated him earlier, it may not have affected the outcome.
“However, you don’t absolutely know.

“We always like to treat patients as early as possible to give them the best chance of survival.”
She added: “Any possibility of reversing or improving the outcome would have been increased of he had attended earlier.”

Dr Freeman told how she had been called over to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary early on the Saturday morning to deal with Kyle after the severity of his illness had been discovered.
She monitored his progress after he was transferred to the Sick Kids Hospital but could do nothing to stop his condition deteriorate.

On Sunday afternoon, she had to tell his parents that they could no longer do anything for their child.

Distraught Lisa Thomson and Stuart Brown were given a chance to cuddle the little boy – just four months short of his second birthday – before his ventilator was switched off.
Dr Freeman explained: “It looked like we had a child who, if not brain dead, was clearly progressing towards that stage.

“He had severe organ damage.”

She added: “Mum and Dad had a cuddle with him before 3pm. He was placed in his mother’s arms and we left one of his lines in.

“He was then moved over to his dad. We took him off the ventilator and he died in his dad’s arms.”
A Fatal Accident Inquiry had heard that two crucial decisions by NHS 24 staff led to a delay in getting Kyle the vital treatment he needed for his condition.

Team leader Graham Revie, 43, admitted a ‘physical mistake’ led to Kyle’s case being put in the wrong priority grading while his mother, Lisa Thomson, waited anxiously at home.

Then nursing advisor Fiona Nisbet, 31, claimed that Kyle’s symptoms did not appear to be ‘immediately life-threatening’ and ordered a taxi to bring him to hospital instead of an emergency ambulance.

The doctors who treated Kyle admitted there was nothing they could do to save the boy by the time he had arrived at the hospital.

Yesterday, another senior doctor who treated Kyle on that tragic night in April last year, admitted there was nothing more medical staff at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, could have done to save him once he arrived.

Dr George Craig told the inquiry: “I have thought very carefully about that. There is nothing else we could have done.”

When asked if anyone else could have saved Kyle, he said: “At that point, no.”

Receptionist Gillian Wallace described Kyle as looking ‘blue and floppy’ when his mother took him up to her desk and had him rushed through to waiting doctors.

Dr Craig immediately suspected it was meningococcal septicaemia and administered penicillin to delay the spread of the disease.

But little Kyle failed to respond and had to be hooked up to a ventilator.

Around 36 hours later, Kyle’s mum Lisa was told the heartbreaking news that her son’s organs had failed and there was nothing more that could be done for him.

His ventilator was switched off on the Sunday night.

The FAI has already heard that Kyle’s death sparked an internal investigation at NHS 24 and prioritisation methods were overhauled.

Kyle’s mum Lisa, 31, had called the help line service after noticing rashes over her son’s body at around 2.30am.

It was around 4.30am before he was seen by medics after the blunder by senior worker Revie and the decision not to send an ambulance for Kyle by Ms Nisbet.

Revie admitted that he had meant to make Kyle ‘priority one’ – meaning a call back to his panic-stricken mother within 30 minutes.

But a ‘physical mistake’ rather than an error of judgement saw him placed on ‘priority two’, which saw Lisa called back nearly 50 minutes later.

Nurse Nisbet also admitted she was ‘unclear’ about Kyle’s symptoms and decided they were not immediately life-threatening.

This meant a taxi – rather than an emergency ambulance – was sent for Kyle and could have wasted further time.

The inquiry continues.