Callum Cartlidge: A&E distance 'had no bearing on boy's death'

Callum Cartlidge was regularly off school in the months before his death, the inquest heard

An eight-year-old boy who died when paramedics were "not allowed" to take him to a nearby hospital would not have survived in any case, an inquest heard.

Callum Cartlidge suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Redditch on 3 March 2017 and died shortly after.

The hospital in the town was "not equipped" to treat him and he was taken 20 miles to Worcester.

A paediatrician said it had no impact on Callum's survival as his condition was "not compatible with life".

Paramedics were told to take him to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, which had discharged him with re-hydration salts the previous day.

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Callum's mother, Stacey Cartlidge, said she "wasn't happy" her son was discharged when she "knew" he was not well.

"I put my trust in that doctor," she said.

However, Dr Baylon Kamalarajan, the clinical paediatric director at the Worcestershire Royal, told the inquest the discharge of Callum was "appropriate" given his "clinical presentation".

Dr Kamalarajan said had Callum been taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, just three minutes from his home, "the outcome would not have been any different".

He said there is a "less than 2% survival rate" with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and added the level of acidosis in Callum's blood was "not compatible with life".

Callum collapsed at about 15:30 and was confirmed dead just over an hour later.

He was suffering from Addisonian crisis, a life-threatening progressive condition of Addison's disease, which is caused by damage to the adrenal glands.

Doctors at Worcestershire Royal Hospital had been unable to diagnose the "extremely rare" condition.

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All care for critical seriously ill children was moved from Redditch to Worcester in September 2016. The ambulance service had issued staff with a guidance note about the change.

Assistant coroner David Reid said it is "clear Callum fulfilled the criteria to be taken to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, or another appropriate emergency department".

The inquest at Worcestershire Coroner's Court continues.