The family of a five-year-old boy who died after he was sent home from hospital because there were “no beds” say he could have been saved if staff had listened to them. Yusuf Mahmud Nazir’s uncle Zaheer Ahmed said he had “begged” staff at Rotherham General Hospital to treat his nephew’s sore throat.
Mr Ahmed told Sky News he “begged and begged” for his nephew to be admitted to hospital but was told “there are no beds and not enough doctors”. Yusuf died of pneumonia on Monday. It is reported that an infection had spread to his lungs and caused multiple organ failure resulting in several cardiac arrests.
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust has launched an investigation into Yusuf’s care. He had complained of a sore throat on November 13, and his parents took him to their GP, who prescribed antibiotics.
They drove him to the emergency department of Rotherham General Hospital the next day when his condition did not improve. The family waited for hours before Yusuf was seen but he was sent home even though the doctor treating him had said “it was the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen”, according to Mr Ahmed.
The boy was distressed, struggling to breathe and could not swallow, his family say. Yusuf’s condition worsened while he was at home and his parents called an ambulance and insisted he was taken to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Mr Ahmed told Sky News: “If they would have treated him where we wanted him to be treated he would be here with us now. He would have been here playing like he was. We’ve lost a beautiful child… it’s not his fault. We begged and begged and begged for help. We couldn’t get it. We just did not get the help we wanted or we needed or we should have got.
“They kept saying to us, they kept saying to us, ‘We’ve got one doctor. What do you want us to do? We’ve got no beds available. What do you want us to do? We’ve got no space for him. What do you want us to do? Complain to the big people, don’t complain to us. Complain to the big ones that only gave us one doctor’.”
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Dr Richard Jenkins, offered his condolences to Yusuf’s family, adding: “We have commenced a thorough investigation into Yusuf’s care, which will include liaison with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. We have contacted the family and will continue to do so as part of the investigation.
“I want to assure families that we have an appropriately staffed medical paediatric service who provide support to our medical colleagues working within our Urgent Emergency Care Centre when required. We, like other district general hospitals in the South Yorkshire region, do not provide paediatric intensive care beds. The Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist trust who do provide paediatric intensive care beds.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “All children deserve the highest levels of care and we are taking urgent action to ensure no families have to experience these kinds of tragedies. Last week we announced up to £8billion for health and social care in 2024/25 and we’re giving an extra £500million to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds, ensuring people are only in hospital for as long as they need to be. The NHS is also creating the equivalent of 7,000 more beds this winter – enabling hospitals to treat patients sooner, including by using remote monitoring to provide care at home or in the community.”
