Yusuf Mahmud Nazir: Family to meet health secretary over boy's death

Yusuf Mahmud Nazir suffered multiple organ failure and several cardiac arrests as a result of the infection

The family of a boy who died after he was sent home from hospital will meet the health secretary after calling for a fresh inquiry into his death.

Yusuf Mahmud Nazir, five, died in November 2022, eight days after he was seen at Rotherham Hospital and sent home with antibiotics.

An independent report last year found his care was appropriate and "an admission was not clinically required".

But his family rejected its findings saying it was "not independent at all".

Yusuf died after a severe infection spread to his lungs.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Yusuf's uncle Zaheer Ahmed said: "He should have been admitted on that day, he should have been given IV antibiotics on that day, and he wouldn't have died."

Mr Ahmed and other family members met with shadow health secretary Wes Streeting last week and were due to meet Health Secretary Victoria Atkins on Tuesday afternoon.

"There's a lot of things missing out of it," Mr Ahmed said.

"Thirteen pages have been taken out. Everything about Yusuf has been taken out."

He called for an "honest, fair investigation by a completely independent body".

Yusuf's uncle Zaheer Ahmed had led calls for an independent inquiry

The report by independent consultants published by NHS South Yorkshire in October 2023 concluded: "We consider that on the basis of Yusuf's observations, presentation and diagnosis there was a reasonable expectation that the antibiotics prescribed were appropriate and an admission was not clinically required."

It also rejected Mr Ahmed's claim he was told "there are no beds and not enough doctors" and said "a bed would have been found" if an admission had been deemed necessary.

Yusuf, who had asthma and suffered from repeated respiratory infections, was taken to hospital by his family on 14 November complaining of a sore throat.

He had been given antibiotics the previous day by a GP, but his condition had not improved and he was having difficulty breathing.

After a six-hour wait in hospital, the youngster was seen by a doctor who diagnosed severe tonsillitis and prescribed more antibiotics.

But his condition deteriorated and he was taken to Sheffield Children's Hospital by ambulance on 18 November. He died five days later.

'Tragic circumstances'

Dr Jo Beahan, medical director at the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We were all deeply saddened by the tragic circumstances surrounding Yusuf's death.

"It is something no parent wants to go through, and our sympathies remain with Yusuf's family.

"Given the concerns raised by Yusuf's family at the time, an independent investigation was commissioned by the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.

"The trust fully co-operated with the investigation and accepted the recommendations made within the report, which was published in October 2023.

"The independent investigation found that, sadly, there was nothing that could have been done differently that would have saved Yusuf's life."