The parents of a nine-month-old baby believe she may have been exposed to deadly fumes in hospital before her death.
Amy Dean frantically tried to save her daughter Annie-Jo Mountcastle when she found her unresponsive in her cot. But the tot was tragically pronounced dead at her home in Abergele on November 17, 2017.
Annie Jo's parents are "still waiting for answers" as to what caused their daughter's sudden death. Annie-Jo and her twin sister, Florence-Rose, were born almost 12 weeks prematurely, weighing 2lb 1oz and 2lb 2oz respectively, back in February 2017.
Amy and Annie-Jo's father, David Mountcastle, claim that the twins were exposed to red diesel fumes when windows were left open at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd while construction work was taking place outside in 2017. But after a full investigation at the time, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board insisted "no harm" had been caused to the babies.
According to the couple, who are now separated, the twins’ “eyes were swollen” after they were born and at 28 days old, they were diagnosed with chronic lung disease. They were discharged within three months.
The cause of Annie-Jo's death remains unascertained but a pre-inquest hearing held in Ruthin County Hall today (March 23) sought to make the final arrangements before a full inquest can establish how the infant came by her death.
John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales east and central, heard that the final inquest will address Amy and David's concerns over whether the exposure to the fumes was a factor in Annie-Jo's death. The inquest will seek to establish if "the pollutants more than minimally contributed to Annie-Jo's death," Mr Gittins told the court.
The family's legal representative, Janine Wolstenholme, told the court that they believe the exposure led to additional clinical input for a baby who already had a compromised respiratory system - and that this was a factor in her death. Ms Wolstonhome added that the incubator in which Annie-Jo was placed may have exacerbated her exposure to the fumes rather than acted as a barrier.
Among the others present at the hearing were legal representatives from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and BAM Construction - the company tasked at the time with the construction of the £18m sub-regional neonatal intensive care centre at the Bodelwyddan site.
Within the next eight weeks, the coroner has instructed BAM to provide a statement detailing the nature of the project, its timescale, what works were conducted between February 5, the specifics of the machinery used, and the health and safety assessments undertaken.
The health board has also been asked to supply a statement on whether the ingress of diesel posed a risk to Annie-Jo and if not, why not. The coroner will then relay the additional evidence to experts in order for them to produce a supplementary report that fills in some of the gaps in relation to Annie-Jo's cause of death and the effects of the exposure to the fumes.
After the hearing, Annie-Jo's father, David Mountcastle, told NorthWalesLive: "We're just waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel at this stage. It's been six years now since Annie-Jo died and we're still waiting for answers.
"Hopefully we won't have to wait for too much longer now - we're both very grateful to the coroner for his work and we look forward to finally be able to this to bed when the inquest comes."
