Toddler died ‘screaming in pain’ after waiting three days for a hospital bed to have life-saving operation to fix burst bowel
An inquest into the tragic death of 20-month-old Kayden Umrston-Bancroft heard the heartbreaking story that unfolded at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital
A TODDLER died in agony after waiting three days for surgery which was repeatedly delayed because no hospital beds were available, an inquest has heard.
Kayden Urmston-Bancroft required an "urgent" procedure to repair his burst bowel at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but it kept being "put off".
The 20-month-old passed away surrounded by his family as his grandmother read him Mr Men stories.
Kayden was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, but it was only discovered when the youngster was taken to Stepping Hill Hospital after falling from a bed and banging his face in 2016.
An X-ray showed that part of his bowel had burst through the hole in his diaphragm and he was transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH) for urgent surgery.
But three days later, the youngster was still waiting for surgery and went into cardiac arrest.
Kayden, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, was rushed to theatre, but tragically never regained consciousness and died shortly afterwards in April 2016.
An inquest into his death held at Manchester Coroner’s Court on Monday heard that Kayden’s surgery had been repeatedly delayed because there were no beds available on the children’s High Dependency Unit (HDU).
One senior consultant described the children’s hospital as ";extremely busy" during the little boy’s treatment.
His grandmother Julie Rowlands said she and Kayden’s mum Shannon Bancroft had expected him to have immediate surgery after being transferred to RMCH from Stepping earlier in April 2016.
Speaking in court on Monday, Julie said: “We were under the impression he would be transferred to the children’s hospital and have the operation straight away.
“We thought they were ready to do it. When we arrived we were put in a room and the F1s were saying a car crash victim had come in.
“By Wednesday Kayden was still in pain so I rang Stepping Hill saying they had still not done it.
"It was just put off day by day.”
His mother Shannon Bancroft, in a statement read out in court, described the signs of pain and discomfort her son showed while in hospital.
She said Kayden was "still screaming and seemed to be in a lot pain" on the Thursday before he died.
Shannon's statement read: “We were told the only reason for the delay was the lack of beds and that was what we were waiting for.”
On the Friday evening, Shannon said Kayden still would not settle. Sensing something was wrong, the mum called the nurses to check on her son.
She noticed he was pale and that his lips had started to turn blue. Kayden then went into cardiac arrest.
Doctors and nurses resuscitated Kayden for just under half an hour while his distraught mother looked on.
She said: “I called my mum in hysterics and then went back into the room. I dropped to the floor and had to be taken out again.”
Kayden regained a pulse and was rushed to theatre for his operation. He was taken to the intensive care unit but sadly never regained consciousness.
Shannon said: “After the operation the surgeon came back into the room and said as a hospital they had failed my little boy.
“My mother asked them if Kayden would be disabled and their response was he was not going to make it.”
Shannon made the heartbreaking decision to turn off her son’s life-support machine on Sunday, April 17, 2016.
A pathology report accepted as evidence in court concluded Kayden had died of natural causes linked to acute inflammation of the pericardial sack, peritonitis and stomach perforation.
Coroner Angharad Davies questioned who was responsible at the hospital for booking beds on the high dependency unit ahead of surgery.
Mr Mohamed Shoukry, a locum consultant surgeon who treated Kayden that week, said he had not been aware of the hospital’s policy on making beds available.
He said he first saw Kayden on the Tuesday and had offered to carry out Kayden’s surgery if there was a cancellation on his list on the Thursday.
In the meantime, Kayden had been placed on a list of patients requiring urgent surgery and was left under the care of the on-call consultant surgeon, Mr Shoukry told the court.
Mr Shoukry said he believed it would have been the on-call team who would have booked a bed for Kayden.
He described the paediatric theatre as “exceptionally busy” and said he had not been aware that a new request for an HDU bed needed to be made each day.
The inquest continues.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.