Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died in November 2022, just days after being assessed in hospital and sent home with antibiotics
The family of a young boy who tragically passed away after being discharged from A&E believe the five-year-old has already saved “hundreds and hundreds of children’s lives.”
Yusuf Mahmud Nazir sadly died in November 2022, eight days after being evaluated in hospital and sent home with antibiotics. Yesterday, his family met with the UK’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting in London to campaign for Yusuf’s Law, the Mirror reports.
The family is advocating for national guidance that acknowledges parents’ instincts when “something feels very wrong” with their child, following their own concerns being overlooked. They also discussed the report into Yusuf’s care, published in July, and received assurances from Mr Streeting that the recommendations would not be forgotten.
After the meeting, Yusuf’s uncle, Zaheer Ahmed, 42, said: “Yusuf’s legend is already saving lives”. He expressed their satisfaction that the Westminster Government was taking their calls for change “very, very seriously”.
“It’s important that this is taken very seriously and these concerns are addressed nationally,” Mr Ahmed said. He also revealed how they had talked about Yusuf’s ongoing influence in safeguarding other children.
Mr Ahmed added: “Maybe his life was shortened to save hundreds and hundreds of other children. We want to prevent any other child going through what Yusuf’s been through. Within the local hospitals we can see that people are using Yusuf’s name, to get the right care. His name is getting used quite a lot.
“Some of the trusts are also using Yusuf’s name in their training. His legend is saving people’s lives. Wes Streeting also made a comment on that and said ‘we are sure Yusuf has saved many many lives already’.”
Discussing the family’s enduring pain, Mr Ahmed explained: “It’s absolutely broken our hearts, it’s destroyed our hearts. Thinking about what could have been done, what could have been easily preventable. If only we’d been listened to, if only it was acted on, if only we were taken seriously, then Yusuf would have been still with us”.
The family recalled their frantic requests for antibiotics, being informed an ambulance was ‘not a taxi’, and seeing other sick children left waiting in hospital corridors. Mr Ahmed went on: “There’s not a day goes by where we don’t speak about Yusuf, where we’re not sharing family photographs of Yusuf.
“Our other children, Yusuf’s cousins, Yusuf’s brothers, they’re all struggling daily, asking, ‘When’s Yusuf coming back? He’s been gone for a while, when’s he back? He’s not answering our FaceTime’. He’s got two brothers, one is 13 years old and one just turned 18. It’s very, very difficult for them because they’re asking, ‘Why has Yusuf been taken? Why did Yusuf die? Why did it have to be him?’ It’s left us with a lifetime of trauma.”
A solicitor for the family previously told a pre-inquest review hearing that relatives believed there had been “a number of significant systems failures” at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where Yusuf passed away, and Rotherham General Hospital, where he was initially treated. The family of Yusuf have consistently claimed they were told “there are no beds and not enough doctors” in the emergency department at Rotherham, and that their son should have been admitted and given intravenous antibiotics.
The care review published in July concluded: “Our primary finding is that the parental concerns, particularly the mother’s instinct that her child was unwell, were repeatedly not addressed across services. A reliance on clinical metrics over caregiver insight caused distress for the family.
“This led to a lack of shared decision-making and there was limited evidence of collaborative discussions with Yusuf’s family around clinical decisions, leading to a sense of exclusion and reduced trust in care plans.”
Yusuf, who had asthma, was taken to his GP surgery presenting with a sore throat and feeling unwell onNovember 15, 2022. An advanced nurse practitioner prescribed antibiotics.
Later that same evening, his parents took him to Rotherham’s urgent and emergency care centre, where he was eventually assessed in the early morning hours after a six-hour wait. He was discharged with a diagnosis of severe tonsillitis and an extended course of antibiotics.
Two days afterwards, Yusuf’s GP prescribed further antibiotics for a suspected chest infection. However, his family’s concerns grew to such an extent that they summoned an ambulance and demanded the paramedics transport him to Sheffield Children’s Hospital rather than Rotherham.
On November 21, Yusuf was taken into the intensive care unit but tragically developed multi-organ failure and experienced multiple cardiac arrests from which he could not be revived. He passed away on November 23. A full inquest into his death is set to begin on April 13 next year.
At a meeting attended by Yusuf’s mother, Soniya Ahmed, and their solicitor, Anna Thwaites, Mr Ahmed stated: “We believe that the inquest will come out with a lot more truth about what happened to Yusuf. We wanted to make sure that parents’ voices are heard, it’s very important that parents get their voices heard.”
Earlier this year, Yusuf’s mum spoke at a press conference. Ms Ahmed recalled the haunting moment her son begged, ‘Mummy I can’t breathe’. She described how her “happy little boy” had been failed “catastrophically”.
“For the medical staff there are lessons to be learnt from this tragedy, but for us, our life, Yusuf has been taken away from us in the most horrific way,” Ms Ahmed said. “My son went into hospital with tonsillitis and he never returned home. My son was left to die right beside me. He was crying in pain. Yet received no pain relief.
“…The report concludes that 13 missed opportunities to escalate Yusuf’s care. All while I was trusting the NHS to protect him. They failed him catastrophically.”
