Lewys Crawford inquest: Doctor made 'error of judgement'

A doctor has admitted making an "error of judgement" when treating a three-month-old boy who died of sepsis in hospital in Cardiff.

Lewys Crawford, from Cardiff, died of meningococcal septicaemia at the University Hospital of Wales in March 2019.

Paediatrician Ifeoma Ujomu told an inquest Lewys should have received antibiotics earlier in his treatment.

Dr Ujomu said: "With hindsight it was an error of judgement on my part."

The inquest in Pontypridd has been told Lewys was diagnosed with sepsis about eight hours after he arrived at hospital just after 20:00 GMT, despite a nurse suspecting he had the illness when he was first seen.

Dr Ujomu told the hearing she had waited to carry out tests before antibiotics were administered to Lewis.

The inquest heard there was a "deficit" in "experienced and decision-making doctors" that night, but a consultant had initially assessed Lewis in A&E.

She said: "A very senior person had seen the baby and I was happy the child did not need any further interventions."

Lewys's parents Aidan Crawford and Kirsty Link want to know why there were delays in treating him for sepsis

Dr Ujomu had left the paediatric ward and gone to A&E to treat another child where she was first told about Lewys's condition by a nurse.

Dr Ujomu said: "At no time did she say there was any urgency", adding she was treating other children and "asked if there was any other person who could review Lewys".

If there had been concerns, these could have been "escalated" to a consultant.

"Initially I saw him and I felt he had a fever without a focus, and would require the full sepsis screen," she said.

The court heard she tried four times to insert a cannula into Lewys but could not.

She told coroner Graeme Hughes she had thought Lewys would have been "more unwell" if he had sepsis.

"With hindsight it was an error of judgement on my part," she said.

Dr Ujomu carried out blood and other tests, where the results could take up to 48 hours.

She said: "It is usually emphasised to us to do a full sepsis screen before giving antibiotics."

Lewys Crawford died a day after he was taken to A&E

The inquest heard this then guides what is administered, and for how long.

She agreed "with the benefit of hindsight" Lewys should have been given antibiotics "as a precaution".

When she saw Lewys on the paediatric ward at about 00:30, her "impression was the same as before" about his condition.

The inquest heard the phrase "possible sepsis" was written down in Lewys's notes at the time, but Dr Ujomu told the inquest that phrase was used "wrongly" at the time, and what was meant was "possible bacterial infection".

Antibiotics were eventually administered at around 03:30.

The court heard Dr Ujomu, who had qualified as a doctor in 2008 before coming to work the UK in 2018, was working at the equivalent level of a paediatric registrar.

The inquest continues.