Jew World Order

• Holly Waters lived just two and-a-half miles from Stafford Hospital
• She was driven 22 miles to a second hospital by paramedics
• The infant died just two minutes before arriving there

By
Andy Dolan

PUBLISHED:

14:38 EST, 20 July 2012

|

UPDATED:

12:33 EST, 21 July 2012

A seven-month-old baby died after being refused access to a notorious hospital because the AE department closed at night and the children’s ward was dealing with an emergency.

Holly Waters lived just two and-a-half miles from Stafford Hospital, but had to be driven 22 miles to a second hospital by paramedics.

Yesterday her devastated parents told how the infant died just two minutes before arriving at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-on-Trent 49 minutes after paramedics had first reached her.

Seven-month old Holly Waters died after being refused access to Stafford Hospital because its AE department is shut at night and the children’s ward was full

The family called 999 after Holly’s mother, Charlotte Waters, discovered her unconscious in her cot.

Up to that point Holly had been a normal, healthy baby.

Stafford Hospital’s AE has been shut between 10pm and 8am since December because of staff shortages. It was due to reopen in March, but the closure has been extended to October because Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust still needs to recruit additional staff.

Holly’s father Sean Birch said this – and an already full children’s ward – had led to up to a 20-minute delay in getting Holly to a hospital.

Mr Birch said: ‘We were actually told that she died two minutes away from North Staffordshire, but if she had gone to Stafford Hospital and they had managed to put a drip in and stabilise her, then send her to North Staffordshire, she would still be here today.’

The infant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Holly Waters lived just two and-a-half miles from Stafford Hospital, but was driven elsewhere

News of the incident came just a day after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported the hospital was now ‘meeting all the essential standards of quality’.

The watchdog’s findings came three years after a damning report by its predecessor, the Healthcare Commission, revealed ‘appalling standards of care’ and higher-than-expected death rates.

Last night, the BBC reported how Holly’s parents called 999 on the night of June 28, with a paramedic arriving just four minutes later at 22:46 BST.

According to the ambulance service, both the officer at the scene and ambulance control contacted Stafford’s AE department but were told the unit could not accept Holly.

Holly was instead taken to North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent 22 miles away

Requests to take the baby to the children’s ward at Stafford were also refused, the ambulance service said.

A hospital spokesman said the paediatric ward had been full and handling an emergency at the time.

It was at 23:37 BST that the baby reached the Stoke-on-Trent hospital.

Both West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Mid Staffordshire trust said it was impossible to say whether admitting Holly to Stafford Hospital would have made a difference.

Colin Ovington, director of nursing and midwifery at Stafford Hospital, told the BBC it would have been unsafe for the paediatric unit to have accepted Holly.

‘The staff were already treating a very seriously ill child who had been brought in as an emergency and they were also caring for a number of other emergency admissions and sick children,’ he said.

‘The staff correctly followed the joint protocol between the hospital and West Midlands Ambulance Service for these circumstances.’

‘The staff were already treating a very
seriously ill child who had been brought in as an emergency and they
were also caring for a number of other emergency admissions and sick
children.’

Colin Ovington

In a statement, Mid Staffordshire trust said: ‘When contacted by the West Midlands ambulance crew, our paediatric ward told the crew that they were unable to accept the baby because they did not have the capacity in the ward and were already dealing with an emergency.

‘As per the agreed protocol, the ambulance crew were directed to take the baby to UHNS.

‘The ambulance crew also contacted our AE department, who repeated the instruction that the baby should be taken to UHNS.’ He said an internal investigation had found ‘this was not reported as a serious incident’.

‘There was no reason to discipline or suspend any member of staff.’ A spokeswoman for NHS Midlands and East, the strategic health authority, said it had not been informed about the incident.

‘It is disappointing that this incident was not formally reported and we are now seeking assurances from the NHS organisations that this is being investigated, in order to fully understand what took place,’ she said.

An initial post-mortem examination was unable to find the cause of death and an inquest will be held in due course.

On Thursday, the CQC said it was lifting all of its concerns around Stafford Hospital following visits in June to review areas where it had ‘previously registered moderate and minor concerns’, the trust said.

Chief executive Lyn Hill-Tout said: ‘We have been confident for some time that we had made all the improvements which were needed.

‘We know that we still don’t get it right every time for every patient but this report is confirmation that we are definitely well on the way.’

The 2009 Healthcare Commission report revealed a catalogue of care failings could have cost up to 1,200 lives at the hospital.

A £10million public inquiry into standards at the hospital ended last November after 139 days. Its chairman, Robert Francis QC, is expected to publish his final report – which will contain recommendations to stop the failings at the trust being repeated elsewhere – in October.

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