Samuel Starr had heart surgery when he was nine-months old at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in England and was thought to have been recovering well.
But a new computer system at a second hospital, the Royal United in Bath, failed to generate appointment slots for him and he did not receive follow-up treatment for 20 months.By the time he was seen, aged 3, he was judged to need further surgery but suffered complications caused a stroke and cardiac arrest. Ben Peregrine, the speciality manager for paediatrics at the RUH, in Bath, said: “Samuel’s appointment request must have fallen through the cracks between the old and new system.”
Samuel’s is the fourth in a series of hearings examining deaths of young heart patients at National Health Service hospitals in Bristol.
But a new computer system at a second hospital, the Royal United in Bath, failed to generate appointment slots for him and he did not receive follow-up treatment for 20 months.By the time he was seen, aged 3, he was judged to need further surgery but suffered complications caused a stroke and cardiac arrest. Ben Peregrine, the speciality manager for paediatrics at the RUH, in Bath, said: “Samuel’s appointment request must have fallen through the cracks between the old and new system.”
Samuel’s is the fourth in a series of hearings examining deaths of young heart patients at National Health Service hospitals in Bristol.
