Death of girl, 14, highlights hospital staff recruitment issue

Katie Wilkins did not receive life-saving treatment due to communication failures

The death of a 14-year-old girl with leukaemia has prompted a coroner to call for action to resolve a national shortage of haematologists.

Katie Wilkins died after failures in her treatment at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

She had suffered a catastrophic bleed on the brain but was under the care of an oncologist, not a haematologist.

Coroner Katie Ainge heard national recruitment problems meant bosses were unable to recruit the right staff.

She has since written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid in a bid to highlight the shortcomings and help prevent similar deaths in the future.

Katie's family, from Warrington in Cheshire, described the hospital's failures as "devastating".

The inquest heard how Katie was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML) on 26 July 2020.

But Warrington Hospital medics could have identified the rare form of cancer earlier, the hearing was told.

She was then taken to Alder Hey and given prescriptions as part of her care plan, but communication failures between the haematology and oncology teams meant she did not receive the treatment and died on 31 July.

A national shortage of haematologists meant the hospital was not able to recruit more staff

The inquest heard APML patients at Alder Hey are managed between both haematology and oncology teams.

However, expert witness Dr Cathy Farrelly said it was almost unheard of for an oncologist to manage patients with the condition.

Alder Hey haematologist Dr Keenan said he had raised his own concerns about the matter after Katie died.

The coroner heard the trust kept the same arrangements in place due to the issues in recruiting haematologists.

Katie Wilkins was described by her family as a "funny, caring and sassy girl with a contagious smile"

Both hospitals involved in Katie's care apologised and said changes had been made to systems.

Her parents Jeanette Whitfield and Jonathan Wilkins said: "The evidence that we have listened to in court from the specialist consultants stating that the care of our daughter should have been under the care of a haematologist, and that our beloved daughter would be here today if she had received that care is devastating.

"As parents we are incredibly angry and will continue to raise this issue so that future families will not have to go through what we have."

Coroner Ms Ainge has prepared a prevention of future deaths report, which Mr Javid must respond to before 21 July.

In it, she expressed her concern that oncology consultants continue to be the lead consultants for care of APML patients at Alder Hey and highlighted the recruitment issues.

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