Latest news with #Margate
The Independent
7 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
Coroner has ‘no doubt' diagnosis could have prevented death of baby boy
A coroner has said there were 'missed opportunities' from 'many' medical visits which could have saved the life of a one-year-old boy. Archie Squire died from heart failure in the early hours of November 23 2023, after successive cardiac arrests, days after his first birthday. He was suffering from a rare heart defect in which the heart's lower half is reversed, which was never diagnosed despite at least 16 visits to medical staff in his 368 days of life. On Friday, the inquest at Kent and Medway Coroner's Court in Maidstone, heard that if Archie had been diagnosed earlier he would 'almost certainly not have died at the time he did'. Area coroner Sarah Clarke said: 'I have no doubt earlier recognition and diagnosis of a very rare heart condition would have made a difference to the outcome for Archie. 'There are many points in the chronology where there were missed opportunities to do something differently to make the diagnosis of Archie's condition more likely.' Archie's parents made repeated visits to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, and to St James' Surgery in Dover, with concerns about Archie's breathing and constipation which did not lead to long-term diagnoses. The coroner continued: 'He died as a direct result of heart failure with an underlying congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries – a rare condition that could have been diagnosed by an echocardiogram. 'Despite many presentations to medical personnel in the weeks and months leading up to his death, an echocardiogram was not undertaken.' His mother, Lauren Parrish, from Dover, recalled her son being labelled a 'mystery child' because doctors were not sure what was wrong with him. 'It felt like every time we sought medical help for his breathing he was diagnosed with some form of chest infection,' Ms Parrish said in a statement read by the coroner. Ms Clarke added that if a diagnosis had been found for Archie 'he would almost certainly not have died at the time that he did'. A report by paediatric cardiac surgeon Professor David Anderson noted an 'unacceptable' delay in Archie receiving an echocardiogram after being referred to QEQM by a GP on October 6. He wrote: 'If his diagnosis had been correctly made, he almost certainly would not have died when he did.' It added that 'the delay in obtaining an echo was unacceptable'. Last week, Ravindra Kumar, a paediatric registrar at QEQM responsible for Archie on the night he died, cried in court describing how his work has changed since Archie's death. Asked what he would do differently, Dr Kumar said: 'I regret talking about Archie's condition in front of the family to others, to my colleagues, I learned a big lesson to be more compassionate.' Medical records and Dr Kumar's witness statement suggest he did not see Archie between 9.30pm and 1am on the night he died, the inquest heard. Archie's godmother Nikki Escudier read a pen portrait of Archie to the court. She said: 'Archie Squire was a shining light. A little boy whose laughter, love and joy touched everyone lucky enough to know him. 'Born on November 20 2022, Archie brought happiness into the world from the very beginning. 'In just 368 precious days, he filled every moment with warmth, laughter and the kind of love that stays with you forever. 'His smile lit up the room and his presence left a lasting mark on every heart he touched.' The coroner commended Archie's family on their support for each other throughout the process, and has asked the East Kent Hospitals Trust to provide further evidence of their updated action plans and procedures since Archie's death. At the conclusion of the inquest, Tracey Fletcher, chief executive of East Kent Hospitals, said: 'We offer our sincere condolences to Archie's family. We can only imagine the pain they have endured and we are truly sorry that we did not identify Archie's condition earlier. 'After meeting with Archie's family, we have made important changes to our service. These include one standard process for triage and booking of child referrals, and prioritising the assessment of children referred to us. We will examine further learnings identified through the inquest process. 'Staff across the trust now receive specialised training to improve how clinical concerns, diagnoses and plans are discussed with families in our care. The training for our children's health team specifically draws on lessons learned from Archie's death.'
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Family of Archie Squire 'keeping his memory alive'
"When you take your child to hospital and they don't come back out again - I just couldn't wish it on anyone."Lauren Parrish and Jake Squire have spoken of their shock and grief following the death of their one-year-old son suffered heart failure just days after his first birthday, following repeated visits to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate."They just didn't do everything they could," Lauren said, following an inquest into his death. 'Missed opportunities' to prevent baby's death The couple told the BBC their little boy had "brightened everyone's life"."He was a happy little boy. He just brought us all together as a family," Lauren they had noticed that their son was not growing and developing as he should have been. "We didn't quite realise how small he was until we looked at the other one-year-old children," said Lauren. "He wasn't walking. He was hardly crawling. It was just such a shock." Regarding the care Archie received at the QEQM hospital in Margate, Jake said: "We never got a straight answer to what was actually wrong with him. Never. "We would say one thing and they would say they know best."If they had put him down as 'failure to thrive' he would have been seen within 24 to 48 hours for a heart scan and then obviously he would have been fixed from there. "It's too late." Lauren and Jake said they have been supported by family throughout their family has attended every session of the coroner's court regarding Archie's death. Lauren said her parents were often the ones looking after Archie and had frequently expressed their concerns. She said her mother would tell her "he's not right - we need to take him to get checked"."You never expect your children to pass before you," said Lauren."You've got your child one day and the next he's not there. It's just heartbreaking."Jake said their younger son, Albie, keeps them going."I think the main thing for us, for the family, is just keeping his memory alive," said Lauren. At an inquest, Sarah Clarke, area coroner for North East Kent, concluded there was "no doubt" that an earlier diagnosis of a congenital heart defect would have "altered the outcome" of Archie's coroner recorded Archie's cause of death as heart failure and congenitally corrected transposition of the great told the family: "You are an absolute credit to each other and have supported each other outstandingly throughout this process. "From my point of view and the view of the entire coroner service, we will never forget Archie."
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
'Missed opportunities' to prevent death of baby Archie Squires
A baby boy "almost certainly would not have died when he did" if his rare heart condition had been diagnosed, an inquest has Squires suffered heart failure just days after his first birthday and died in November 2023 after more than 10 visits to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Clarke, area coroner for North East Kent, concluded that there was "no doubt" that an earlier diagnosis of a congenital heart defect would have "altered the outcome" of his Clarke also echoed a report by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, which highlighted "missed opportunities" that could have prevented his death.
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
‘Unacceptable' delayed scan could have prevented baby's death, inquest hears
A surgeon has said there were 'unacceptable' delays in obtaining a scan that could have saved the life of a one-year-old boy. Archie Squire died from heart failure in the early hours of November 23 2023, after successive cardiac arrests, days after his first birthday. He was suffering from a rare, undiagnosed heart defect in which the heart's lower half is reversed, an inquest heard. On Thursday, paediatric cardiac surgeon Professor David Anderson was called to give independent medical evidence at Kent and Medway Coroner's Court in Maidstone. He told the court the delay after Archie was referred for an echocardiogram by a GP on October 6 was 'just too long'. The referral to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, did not result in an echo scan taking place before Archie died. Prof Anderson, who holds honorary consultant positions in several countries, said: 'If I showed this audience an echo of a heart pumping normally and an echo of a heart not pumping normally, it is absolutely barn-door obvious. 'An echo in advance of his final admission would have enabled the management to be appropriate for his situation.' While the scan would not guarantee an immediate diagnosis, it would have shown 'poor function' of Archie's heart, the inquest heard. A report prepared by Prof Anderson said: 'If his diagnosis had been correctly made, he almost certainly would not have died when he did.' It added that 'the delay in obtaining an echo was unacceptable'. He told the coroner: 'I would hope that it would have prevented him from collapsing into the situation from which he could not be resuscitated. 'We would not have been advising his family that he would have lived a long and happy life and he would have died at an old age, we would have been very, very guarded with our prognosis.' Archie is thought to have suffered from undiagnosed congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA), which has been referenced in his medical cause of death, the inquest heard. Most practitioners will go through their entire working lives without seeing or having to treat CCTGA, Prof Anderson said. 'It's very rare indeed,' he added. Archie did not receive an echocardiogram during the month and a half after being referred by a GP to QEQM, or during his final hospital admission. Prof Anderson said: 'If he had an echo on November 21, which I'm certain would have shown very poor function and I suspect such severe poor function that he would have been referred to Evelina (London Children's Hospital). 'I can only imagine that the function was really pretty awful by this stage and not something that a local hospital would take on to manage.' It is unusual for someone with CCTGA to go into cardiac failure so early in their life, the inquest heard. According to the Adult Congenital Heart Association, just 0.5-1% of babies born with heart defects have CCTGA. The inquest is expected to conclude on Friday.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Baby Archie had 'incredibly rare' heart condition, expert says
A medical expert has told an inquest that a baby who died at a Kent hospital had a heart condition so rare that doctors "might see one in their working lives".Archie Squire died from heart failure in the early hours of 23 November 2023 after repeated visits to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in to paediatric cardiac surgeon Prof David Anderson, Archie had an "exceedingly rare" condition known as "congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries".Most GPs "would never see a case" while hospital doctors "might see one in their working lives", he told the inquest. 'One in 35,000' Prof Anderson said the "great majority of children with the condition would have additional defects of the heart", but that Archie did likelihood of a child having this type of congenital heart condition was "one in 35,000", he was reviewed in the A&E and Urgent Care Centre at QEQM Hospital more than 10 times over the year of his life with symptoms including constipation, breathlessness and failure to Emma Price, a consultant paediatrician with the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), previously told the inquest that Archie did not have "any signs of heart disease" when she saw him in October 2023. A serious incident investigations report conducted by EKHUFT found there were "missed opportunities to diagnose him appropriately".Prof Anderson shared his view that Archie would have been referred to the Evelina London Children's Hospital had he received an echocardiogram - a scan used to look at the heart and nearby blood vessels - upon admission to hospital on 21 inquest, which started at North East Kent Coroner's Court in Maidstone on 19 May, is ongoing.
