Boy, 12, died in hospital after five-hour delay administering fluids

Brandon's mother said he was a "happy and loving little boy"

A mother says she hopes medics have learned lessons after her 12-year-old son died in hospital following a delay in giving him the treatment he needed.

Doctors identified Brandon Dables had kidney disease when he was admitted to Royal Derby Hospital and said he should be given intravenous fluids.

However they were not administered until five hours later.

A coroner has found Brandon would probably not have died if he had been put on a drip earlier.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) has admitted the care given to Brandon, from Ripley, Derbyshire, did not meet the standard he needed.

Brandon, who was non-verbal and had a number of health issues, was admitted to hospital with vomiting and difficulty seeing on 26 April 2021.

He was prone to urinary infections because his bladder had been affected by a spinal condition and was undergoing kidney function tests.

Brandon's mum Marylin Wright said nurses did not take her concerns seriously

His mother Marylin Wright said she repeatedly asked staff why he had not been given the fluids, and antibiotics, as doctors said, over a number of hours.

She said: "I kept asking the nurses when Brandon would be given his fluids and antibiotics but they kept saying that they were waiting for a doctor to do that. It just felt like it was taking a long time.

"I could see Brandon was getting worse and I was anxious and worried. It felt strange that they didn't put him on fluids straight away as when he has attended previously that was the first thing they did."

Brandon later suffered a cardiac arrest and staff were unable to revive him.

Ms Wright said: "I'm still in trauma about the way Brandon died but needed to be his voice to at least establish the answers he deserved regarding his care and what happened to him.

"I can't put into words the distress of losing my child.

"It's difficult not to think when Brandon needed help the most he was badly let down.

"I feel they didn't take into account his additional needs, and the concerns I had as his mum. I knew him far better than anyone but feel like my concerns weren't taken seriously. "

She said Derby County fan Brandon, who was a pupil at Alfreton Park Community special school, was "a happy and loving little boy" who was always smiling and giggling.

"I'd do anything to have Brandon back in our lives but know that's not possible," she added.

"All I can hope for now is that no one else has to go through what our family continue to go through each and every day."

Changes made

Coroner Peter Nieto, who oversaw Brandon's inquest, recorded a narrative verdict.

He said: "It is probable that Brandon would not have died if he had been given intravenous fluid treatment following his attendance at hospital within a reasonable timeframe to treat a developing kidney infection."

UHDB interim medical director Dr Sree Andole said: "Our heartfelt condolences remain with Brandon's family, and we are very sorry that aspects of the care we provided to him did not meet the level he or his family needed from us.

"We have taken Brandon's case seriously and acted on our learning to put changes in place."

He said these included building a new alert into patient monitoring systems to help respond to changes more quickly, enhanced training for staff to improve communication between teams, and introducing pre-filled syringes for certain medicines so that they can be administered quicker.

Dr Andole added: "We are grateful to Ms Wright for her strength in sharing her feedback on how we can improve our engagement with families, and we have since proactively invested in specialist bereavement nurses so that we can provide better and dedicated support to families at these incredibly difficult times."