The coroner, following an inquest into the death of three-day-old Wyllow-Raine Swinburn, has raised concerns to South Central Ambulance Service after the baby’s family spent 8 minutes waiting for an answer to their 999 call and more than 30 minutes waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire, Darren Salter, concluded that Wyllow-Raine died as a result of congenital hyperinsulinism, a genetic disorder in which the body produces too much insulin. This led to Wyllow-Raine developing hypoglycaemia, which ultimately caused cardiorespiratory failure.
Whilst the coroner found that the 31-minute wait for an ambulance hadn’t directly contributed to the death, he said the family waited “far too long” for an ambulance and he would be sending a Prevention of Future Deaths report to South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, asking them to review their procedures around handling 999 calls and providing ambulances in an emergency.
Wyllow-Raine was born at John Radcliffe Hospital on 27 September 2022 and was allowed to go home on the evening of 29 September 2022. However, in the early hours of 30 September she became unwell and appeared to stop breathing. Her mother made a 999 call at 4.38am. It took eight minutes for the emergency call to be answered. The family gave CPR while they waited for the ambulance, which arrived at 5:09am, more than 30 minutes after the emergency call was made. The ambulance crew took Wyllow-Raine to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
During the inquest, the coroner heard evidence relating to the delay in the ambulance response, the antenatal care, and the neonatal care provided to Wyllow-Raine prior to her being sent home from John Radcliffe Hospital.
Darragh was instructed by Suzanne White and Ella Cornish of Leigh Day.
