The parents of a baby that died after being sent to the back of the queue at a GP’s surgery want the government to introduce measures to stop the same happening to other children.
St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard last week how Linda Peanberg King took her seven month-old baby Axel to Harmoni Centre at the Whittington Hospital, on Magdala Avenue, Archway, where his condition was not believed to be serious enough to be treated as an emergency.
Mrs Peanberg King contacted the private NHS out-of-hours service contractor Harmoni after Axel developed a cold. The baby was given an 18 minute consultation by a doctor and was provided with antibiotics should the condition deteriorate.
On the third day, after Axel’s condition had worsened, Mrs Peanberg King called the Harmoni Centre and spoke to a doctor for one minute. Her baby’s appointment was downgraded from urgent to routine and a check up was scheduled for four hours later.
But Linda Peanberg King was still worried for her child’s health, and she arrived for the appointment early where she waited in a queue behind six other people.
It was only after an off-duty nurse noticed how serious Axel’s condition was that he was seen, but it was already too late.
Medical staff made repeated efforts to revive baby Axel, but he died of pneumonia at the hospital.
The inquest into Axel’s death finished on Friday and Coroner Shirley Radcliffe described the telephone conversation Mrs Peanberg King had with the doctor as “wholly inadequate”, saying “insufficient questions” had been asked about the baby’s condition.
In a statement released after Friday’s hearing, Mr and Mrs Peanberg King said: “We believe there are still many questions to answer about the safety of the service provided by Harmoni.
“We do not believe that anyone hearing all the evidence in this case could have full confidence in Harmoni’s out of hours services.
“We are now considering all our options to prevent any other children from falling through the net.”
In a statement released after Friday’s inquest, Harmoni said the coroner had found no evidence of failure in their service, but that it was not possible to totally eliminate individual misjudgment: “The coroner’s comments relating to the tragic death of Axel Peanberg King confirmed that there was no evidence to suggest that Harmoni staffing levels were unsafe.
“The coroner also stated she was satisfied Harmoni has made considerable efforts to ensure the competence of the GPs working in the out of hours service and that Harmoni had plans in place to ensure this process is ongoing including improving paediatric training for all its GPs.
“The coroner was clear that she found no evidence of systems failures in the Harmoni service.”
Ellen Parry, the lawyer for the family, spoke of the couple’s devastation, saying: “Both Linda and Alistair want to know how their otherwise healthy baby, after repeated visits and calls to this privately-run clinic, died from a treatable illness, a death that we believe was entirely preventable.”
