4 days ago
School staff in tears over Stamford boy's allergy death
Teaching assistants fought back tears as they gave evidence at an inquest into how a five-year-old boy died after suffering an allergic reaction at Blythe, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, was administered with an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) and given CPR after he had been sick two times and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in December assistant Sophie Brown told the inquest Benedict was off school the day before "so I assumed it was a bug" rather than an allergic Back, who was a 16-year-old apprentice teaching assistant on the day of Benedict's death, cried as, supported by her grandmother, she told she was aware of his allergies.
Benedict had asthma and a number of allergies, including milk and eggs. He died due to food-induced two of the two-week inquest into Benedict's death was held at Peterborough City Hall on Tuesday.
Ms Back said she was aware of Benedict's allergies and knew where to find the medical bag in the classroom."I knew if I needed that I would find it", she told the inquest, as she cried with her grandmother sitting alongside her as she gave Emelia Wawrzkowicz, a consultant paediatrician at Peterborough City Hospital who worked with Benedict on his allergies, told the inquest on Monday "he always needed to have access to adrenaline".Dr Wawrzkowicz said the advice would always be to "if in doubt" administer the AAI if it was suspected someone may be experiencing an allergic reaction, which is the same advice given by Anaphylaxis Brown told the inquest this advice was not conveyed to her as "part of my training".Area coroner Elizabeth Gray told the hearing Benedict had been kept off school on 30 November due to being sick twice the night went back to school on 1 December after Mrs Blythe said he "was fine and didn't appear to be unwell".
The inquest heard that, while he was outside with other children during the morning break on 1 December, Benedict had a gingerbread biscuit he had taken with him from Back told the inquest she remembered unwrapping Benedict's biscuit for him and saw him eat it after he had gone to sit with another then returned to the classroom where he was offered oat milk but was said to have refused was sick shortly after that, and his parents were asked to collect him from school at about 10:30 Brown cleaned him up and read a book with him, and said he showed no signs of being sick and was "happy and giggling" before he was sick again. He was taken outside to get some fresh air while his parents were contacted again before he collapsed and was carried back to a adrenaline auto-injector was administered twice by Ms Brown and CPR was started, the inquest Blythe said Benedict's father Peter was there by about 10:40 and she arrived at 10: services attended and carried out further CPR before Benedict was taken to Peterborough City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:57.
'Exceptionally bright'
Mrs Blythe said Benedict was "well aware of his allergies" and a document had been given to the school which contained information on his allergies, his asthma and the reactions he had said vomiting was the "first sign" of an allergic reaction, and "how it played [out] after that varied".Before he started at Barnack Primary, Mrs Blythe said she had gone on two tours of the school and was "reassured by the level of care offered" and "satisfied the school would be able to cope with his allergies".A statement read out on behalf of Benedict's father, 44-year-old Peter Blythe, described Benedict as an "exceptionally bright child" who "spent hours building figure train tracks"."Ben absolutely loved school. He was thriving in the three months he was there."I miss him every day," the statement inquest continues.
Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
