Boy who died in hospital 'should have been assessed sooner'

A three-year-old boy with Down's Syndrome was left for hours in A&E instead of being moved quickly to a specialist unit, an inquest has heard.

Krishan Saujani died from bronchial pneumonia at Leicester Royal Infirmary on 8 November 2015.

He was originally diagnosed with vomiting and diarrhoea.

A doctor told Leicester Coroner's Court that he should have moved through the department more quickly, and she apologised at the hearing.

Dr Samantha Jones, head of paediatric services, said: "Krishan should have moved through the department within the hour and preferably sooner if possible.

She added: "I just want to say we are as a department terribly, terribly sorry."

Krishan was seen at about 22:30 GMT on 7 November 2015 by Dr Manish Arora, in the children's intensive care unit of the emergency department, the inquest was told.

Krishan, who also had a heart condition, had a high heart rate, temperature and "seemed a bit dehydrated", Dr Arora told the court.

He said he did not think he was critically ill.

Dr Arora ordered blood tests, gave fluid and his expectation was that Krishan would be moved to the Children's Assessment Unit (CAU) soon, the inquest heard.

Krishan was transferred to the CAU at about 03:30 GMT. At about 07:00 GMT Krishan stopped breathing and they started resuscitation.

Dr Nehal Thanawala, who saw Krishan when he was admitted to the CAU, said: "I was very concerned about him and I certainly wanted him in the children's intensive care unit."

At one point during Dr Thanawala's evidence, a member of Krishan's family stood up and said: "Our kid lost his life in somebody's hands, instead of passing the buck, just don't put us through this..."

Expert witness Dr Simon Nadel, from St Mary's Hospital in London, said the original diagnosis of vomiting caused by viral gastro-enteritis "clearly in retrospect was not correct".

"There was a failure of communication between the clinical teams looking after Krishan, leading to a lack of ongoing medical involvement," he said.

The hearing continues.