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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Colleen Smith & Kate Lally

Eight-week-old baby dies after being sent home from hospital twice

A devastated young mum and dad, whose baby died at just eight weeks old, said they were sent home from hospital twice before his death.

Tommy Ivor Hayes died at home on November 21, when he failed to wake from his morning nap.

Dad Liam Hayes, 21, and mum Anya, 19, said Tommy was taken into hospital by paramedics twice in the days before he died.

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Liam, who works at Screwfix in Torquay, said: "He was my first son and I cannot even spend that first Christmas with him.

"He was taken into hospital by paramedics twice and the hospital sent him home both times when he fell asleep.

"They should have kept him in longer and woken him up. He wasn't given any medication, or an inhaler or oxygen - all we had was just a leaflet."

The couple, who also have a 16-month old daughter called Bonnie, said Tommy was born at a healthy 6lb 13oz.

But he began to get ill with a cold the week before he died and they had phoned 111 twice in the previous few days after his breathing had changed.

Liam told Devon Live : "It was like he was trying to take multiple breaths at once. On one occasion I was at work and she took a video of it and sent it to me."

On Monday November 15 Tommy was rushed into Torbay Hospital by paramedics.

Liam said: "The paediatrician diagnosed him with Bronchiolitis and said luckily we had caught it early enough.

"Because Tommy fell asleep they sent Anya and him back home. But they promised us that if it got worse they would give him oxygen."

On November 18, Tommy became worse at about 8pm in the evening, and Anya sent a video of him to Liam just as he was leaving work, and the couple decided to ring 111 again.

Liam added: "He was wheezing really heavily and really quick."

An ambulance came to their home, and Tommy fell asleep on the way to hospital.

Liam said: "When they got in they checked his breathing and could hear the wheezing. But because he was asleep his breathing wasn't as quick as when he was awake and Anya showed them the video of what it was like.

"But they sent him home in the early hours of the morning."

On Sunday morning Tommy had woken up at about 8am, had a bottle and went back to sleep.

Liam was out and a cousin was staying to look after their daughter Bonnie so that Anya could go back to sleep

At around 11.30am Anya woke up by instinct and found Tommy dead in his crib.

She panicked and grabbed him and lay him on the bed and rang her mum. She didn't know what to do and was rubbing his tummy.

Liam said: "Our neighbour in the flats is a nurse and she came in and was giving him CPR.

"They rang me and I could hear the paramedics giving him CPR in the background and then they took the phone and told me that they were so sorry but they had had to stop the CPR and there was nothing more they could do and Tommy had died."

Torquay Hospital said it is investigating Tommy's death.

A spokesperson for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Tommy’s family at this very difficult time.

"While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we investigate all unexpected deaths and we are looking into the care and treatment provided to Tommy.

“We would also encourage Tommy's family to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service. Anyone who has concerns about the care and treatment they receive from our services can contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service so that we can investigate

“Our Patient Advice and Liaison Service can be contacted by phone on 01803 655838, freephone on 0800 0282037 and by email on tsdft.feedback@nhs.net.”

Neighbours, friends and family have set up a GoFundMe to raise money for Tommy's funeral. Almost £5000 has been raised within a few days.

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