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'We want the NHS to be accountable for son's death'

News imageHandout Yusuf Nazir, a small boy, stands next to some railings by a stream. He smiles for the camera and wears a blue short sleeved shirt and a baseball cap with a Spider-Man logo on it.Handout
Yusuf Nazir died eight days after he was sent home from hospital with antibiotics

The family of a five-year-old boy who died after being sent home from A&E with antibiotics said they hope a forthcoming inquest will be a step on the way to holding people accountable for NHS failures.

Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died at Sheffield Children's Hospital on 23 November 2022, eight days after he was first seen at Rotherham Hospital.

His family believe his death was a result of systemic failures across the two hospitals and other services.

Speaking after a pre-inquest review in Sheffield on Wednesday, Yusuf's uncle, Zaheer Ahmed, said he hoped the truth about what happened to his nephew would be exposed during the four-day hearing.

News imagePA Media Soniya and Zaheer Ahmed are dressed in dark, formal clothing. Soniya on the left is wearing a black coat with decorative buttons and a head covering, while Zaheer is wearing a dark overcoat layered over a sweater and shirt, complemented by a scarf. In the background, there is a large blue vehicle.PA Media
Soniya Ahmed and Zaheer Ahmed, mother and uncle of five-year-old Yusuf Mahmud Nazir

The hearing is scheduled to start on 13 April.

Ahmed, who was at the hearing with Yusuf's mother Soniya Ahmed and other family members, said: "We want the truth, but we also want people to be held accountable.

"We don't just want 'lessons have been learned'."

He added: "The inquest will hopefully point us in the direction of what went wrong.

News imageHandout Yusuf Mahmud Nazir, pictured with short, dark hair. He has brown eyes. He is leaning on the back of a green seat and there is grass behind him.Handout
Yusuf died eight days after he was seen at Rotherham Hospital and sent home with antibiotics

Yusuf, who had asthma, was taken to the GP on 15 November 2022 with a sore throat and feeling unwell, and was prescribed antibiotics by an advanced nurse practitioner.

Later that evening, his parents took him to Rotherham Hospital urgent and emergency care centre where he had a six-hour wait before being discharged in the early hours with a diagnosis of severe tonsilitis and an extended prescription of antibiotics.

The family have always said they were told there were not enough beds or doctors that night, and that Yusuf should have been admitted at that point and given intravenous antibiotics.

Two days later, his GP prescribed further antibiotics for a possible chest infection but his family became so concerned they called an ambulance and insisted he was taken to Sheffield Children's Hospital rather than Rotherham.

Yusuf was admitted to the intensive care unit on 21 November but developed multi-organ failure and died after suffering several cardiac arrests.

A report by NHS England in July said that parental concerns, particularly the mother's instinct that her child was unwell, "were repeatedly not addressed across services".

After the report the family called for an inquest, which opened in August, and in December, met with health secretary Wes Streeting, who said he took their concerns "very, very seriously".

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