Boy, 5, died after hospital ‘with no beds’ sent him home

A Five-year-old’s death will be investigated after an overcrowded hospital sent him home when he was sick, saying there were “no beds”.

Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died from pneumonia on Nov 23 after an infection reportedly spread to his lungs and caused multiple organ failure and several cardiac arrests.

The chief executive of Rotherham Hospital has announced that an independent inquiry into the case has been launched, with the local MP saying it needs to discover “what went so horribly wrong”.

Yusuf’s uncle, Zaheer Ahmed, told Sky News that he “begged and begged” for his nephew to be admitted to the hospital, but was told “there are no beds and not enough doctors”.

The family have since received an apology but said they “want answers,” adding: “They’ve apologised but that doesn’t give us any answers.”

Mr Ahmed said he wanted a “completely external investigation to take place outside of the NHS,” but the family were told that it would be led by someone within the health service, although outside of the area.

He added: “We want to save other people’s lives, we want to save other children from going through this and we want answers – who is responsible, why are they responsible?”

Yusuf ’s death has shed light on the pressure emergency care services are facing this winter, with a lack of beds, the first national nurses strike in history and “unacceptable” ambulance delays.

Last week, Britain’s top A&E doctor said the emergency care system was collapsing as about 4,000 patients a day were revealed to be spending more than 12 hours waiting in A&E.

Health chiefs said ambulances had turned into “wards on wheels”. A lack of beds in emergency departments has meant ambulances have been unable to transfer patients into hospitals.

Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham, said: “We need to make sure the inquiry covers the primary and secondary care organisations involved in Yusuf ’s diagnosis, care and treatment.”

The five-year-old had complained of a sore throat on Nov 13, and his GP prescribed him antibiotics. When his condition worsened the next day, his parents took him to Rotherham General Hospital. Despite waiting hours to be seen and the doctor telling the family “it was the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen”, Yusuf was sent home.

His family say that he was struggling to breathe, distressed and was unable to swallow anything. They called an ambulance to take him to Sheffield Children’s Hospital when he got worse.

Mr Ahmed said: “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?’”

A spokesman for the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust expressed condolences to Yusuf’s family and said it would maintain contact with them over the course of the investigation.