Four calls for ambulance made before son's death

A MOTHER concerned about her sick young son made four calls for an emergency ambulance just hours before he died in hospital from sepsis, an inquest has heard.

- By ROD MINCHIN

Kayleigh Kenneford called 111 on the evening of July 7 2022 because her three-year-old son Theo Tui-kubulau was unwell. For the previous 36 hours, he had been gradually getting sicker and sicker with a high temperature and flu-like symptoms and was reluctant to drink or eat.

He had already been admitted and discharged from Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital the previous day with a suspected upper respiratory infection.

Devon Coroner's Court heard the 111 operator, who worked for Herts Urgent Care, graded the call as a category two - urgent but not life threatening and meaning an ambulance should respond by an average of 18 minutes.

But it took a further three calls over an hour-and-a-half by Ms Ken-neford for the ambulance to arrive at her home. Theo returned to Derri-ford shortly after midnight on July 8 where he died a few hours later from sepsis, caused by an “invasive” Strep A infection.