Eleanor Hazel Aldred-Owen underwent surgery on September 29, 2023, and died three days later after critical complications were missed by medical staff. Post-operative care breaches included inaccurate warning scores, unprescribed oxygen therapy, and unflagged diagnostic imaging. In response to the tragedy, the trust established two new post-operative procedures named in the child's memory and created a mandatory escalation pathway for time-critical, abnormal radiology findings.
Key points
Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust accepted full responsibility for 24 di…: Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust accepted full responsibility for 24 distinct failures that contributed to the child's preventable death.
The hospital trust introduced a new escalation process to ensure time-critical, abnormal…: The hospital trust introduced a new escalation process to ensure time-critical, abnormal radiology findings are rapidly addressed by clinical staff.
The child's parents urged the facility to strictly maintain the new safety protocols to p…: The child's parents urged the facility to strictly maintain the new safety protocols to prevent future post-operative care failures.
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- Published
A hospital trust has taken full responsibility for 24 failures that led to the death of a 21-month-old.
Eleanor Hazel Aldred-Owen died at Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital on 2 October 2023 - a coroner concluded she died as a result of misadventure, contributed to by neglect.
She had routine surgery for craniosynostosis, external, a birth defect affecting the skull, but an abnormal chest X-ray was not flagged.
Eleanor suffered a cardiac arrest and unsurvivable brain injury and died in her parents' arms.
Her family, from Mold, Flintshire, said they have lived with "unbearable" guilt and trauma ever since.
Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said her "tragic" death "should not have happened".
Eleanor's dad Chaz said: "Not knowing how or why Eleanor died was the key factors and what kept us going was justice for her.
"The real victory is making sure what happened to Eleanor doesn't happen to anyone else. No other family or child will have to go through what we have."
He added both he and his wife Rachel were "fairly certain it was…
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