NHS 24 Blunders Sealed Fate Of Meningitis Toddler

A YOUNG child who died from meningitis may have been saved if NHS 24 had got him to hospital earlier, an inquiry heard yesterday.

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

Decisions by NHS 24 staff – including sending a taxi rather than an ambulance and failing to give his case the priority it warranted – delayed the boy’s treatment in April 2006.

His life support machine had to be switched off the following day and the baby boy died in the arms of his father.

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 could not be saved.

Julie Freeman, a consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, said 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: “Kyle had a rapidly evolving form of this disease. Had he arrived at hospital and been treated earlier, it may not have affected the outcome.

“But any possibility of reversing or improving the outcome would have been increased if he had attended earlier.”

A fatal accident inquiry had heard that two crucial decisions by NHS 24 staff led to a delay in Kyle receiving the vital treatment he needed.

The inquiry continues.