'It's unbearable' - Mum says dying baby son was let down by NHS 111

An expert has said that if William had gone to hospital the night the call was made there was a good chance he would have survived.

A mum whose baby son died from a type of blood poisoning called Sepsis, says the NHS 111 phone line needs a drastic overhaul.

Melissa Mead from Cornwall says call handlers failed to spot that one-year-old William was seriously ill, and he died the next day.

"NHS 111 has to be changed because it has to take into consideration significant events like Sepsis, they don't take into consideration a low temperature which William had as being an issue, they only take a high temperature, and call handlers need to be trained more efficiently."

William had been suffering from an undiagnosed case of pneumonia.

In December last year his parents called NHS 111 after his temperature rapidly dropped from 40c to 35c.

The call handler arranged for a call back from the out-of-hours doctor later that evening, but neither spotted the seriousness of William's condition and he died in his sleep that night.

Mum Melissa believes her son was let down by the service. An expert at William's inquest in June, Professor Peter Fleming of Bristol Children's Hospital, said that if William had gone to hospital the night before his death there was a good chance he would have survived.

An NHS England report into William's care is yet to be completed.

At the time out of hours GP care was run by Serco. The NHS 111 service is still operated by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

In a statement NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group said:“We are deeply saddened by this case.

“The majority of patients using the NHS 111 service receive high quality and timely care.

Local commissioners work closely with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to ensure that the service is safe and effective and immediately responds where there are concerns.

A multi-agency review into this case – led by NHS England and involving a number of NHS services – is currently taking place and has taken on board the concerns of the family.

The family is being kept informed of developments about the review.

As this is an ongoing review, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”