Coroner: 'Lost opportunities' to help boy after heart surgery

Emma Norley's daughter, Lacey-Marie Poton, was born with Down Syndrome and heart defects.

Last summer, Lacey-Marie was sent home from the Bristol Royal Children's Hospital when Emma believed she should have been kept in the hospital's in the new high-dependency unit on ward 32.

Lacey-Marie later died, aged four-months.

Emma told Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty that she agreed with Steve and Yolanda Turner's call for an inquiry into care at the Bristol hospital.

She said: "I thought my daughter should be in high dependency. They were only using two beds when they had four [available in the unit].

Asked why the unit was being underused, she added: "They said there wasn't enough nursing staff."

In the six weeks between four-year-old Sean Turner's heart surgery and his subsequent death, there were "missed opportunities" that could have saved him.

But, recording a narrative verdict today, a coroner cleared Bristol Children's Hospital of failing to provide basic care to the little boy.

The inquest was the second in two months investigating the death of a child on Ward 32 - the children's cardiac ward.

ITV News Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty reports:

Following the inquest verdict, Robert Woolley, of University Hospitals Bristol Foundation Trust, said the trust would reflect on Sean Turner's death, the coroner's conclusion and the inquest evidence.

Sean Turner's parents told ITV News they have gone through a "horrendous ordeal" after the inquest into their son's death recorded a narrative verdict.

Steve and Yolanda Turner said they felt the coroner was not "strong enough" in her conclusion and the "missed opportunities" by Bristol Children's Hospital had "huge" implications for them.

Yolanda Turner said: "It's been a horrendous ordeal and we're glad it's over but we want to make sure that the hospital learns lessons and that other children are safe - that's important to us, no family should go through what we've been through."

Read: Sean Turner's parents disappointed with inquest verdict

The Coroner at the inquest into the death of 4-year-old Sean Turner, who died after undergoing heart surgery at the Bristol Children's Hospital, has recorded a narrative verdict.

In conclusion today the Coroner said there had been 'lost opportunities' in Sean's care, but stopped short of criticising the Hospital.

She said changes had already already been made at the hospital since the little boy died, and made no recommendations.

ITV News Science and Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty has tweeted:

The mother of a boy who died following heart surgery begged nurses to help her son, an inquest heard today.

Sean Turner died in 2012 at Bristol Children's Hospital from a brain haemorrhage, six weeks after he underwent vital heart surgery.

Mrs Turner told the inquest: "We tried so hard to get him some help and kept asking the cardiac liaison nurse to speak to doctors for us.

"Nothing happened, nobody seemed to help. Nurses were concerned but they seemed too busy to give the time needed to care for Sean at the level he needed."

The inquest also heard from doctors working for the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust at the Children's hospital who said Sean was regularly monitored and his parents' concerns taken on board.

The inquest has been adjourned until tomorrow.

The parents of a four-year-old boy who died at Bristol Children's Hospital have criticised the care he received.

Sean Turner died after suffering a brain haemorrhage in March 2012, six weeks after he had heart surgery.

Speaking at his inquest today, his parents claimed his ward was understaffed, and that doctors refused to move him to the Intensive Care Unit.

Steve and Yolande Turner also spoke to ITV News about their experience at the hospital.