Parents call for action so Dylan tragedy never happens again

A 'gross failure of basic care' by hospital | NHS Trusts 'mustn't investigate themselves'

- By Lucy Johnston

CAMPAIGNERS are calling for an independent body to deal with medical negligence cases, so that NHS hospital trusts no longer investigate their own failures.

The current system is stopping important lessons being learnt, according to Paul Whiteing, chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, and James Titcombe, chief executive of Patient Safety Watch.

The fresh plea was prompted by the case of nine-year-old Dylan Cope, who died after being discharged from hospital despite showing "red flag" symptoms.

A coroner ruled Dylan's death "would have been avoided if he had not been erroneously discharged".

His devastated parents have spent more than two years seeking answers yet the hospital still cannot identify the doctor who sent him home.

Now the NHS trust in charge has launched a third probe in an attempt to identify the mystery medic.

But Dylan's parents say people linked to the trust where their son was failed should not be involved in such an investigation because the hospital should not be "marking its own homework".

Dylan, from Newport, Wales, had visited the Children's Emergency Unit at Assessment Grange University Hospital on December 6, 2022, with a GP note explicitly stating "check for appendicitis".