Mum ‘admits struggling’ before five-year-old’s asthma death

Aria Marie Gilford died following an asthma attack on August 9, 2023, and an inquest is being held into her death at Bolton Coroner’s Court.

Her mum, Jamie-Leigh Kirby, was found to have missed several appointments and phone calls about the five-year-old’s asthma.

She told the court there “was a big chunk of time” between 2021 and 2022 when she no longer had the phone number on the doctors’ record.

The mum-of-three said it belonged to her ex-partner, who “took the phone off her” and she couldn’t transfer the number because he was still using the phone.

She said she’d also moved “around three or four times within a year and a half”.

‘I didn’t think there was actually something wrong with her’

Aria Marie Gilford (Image: Family)

Ms Kirby said the 15-year-old babysitter hadn’t been asked around to babysit, but was already staying with her.

On August 9, 2023, Ms Kirby left around 7.30pm in the evening to bring some food to her friend who was working in a nearby pub.

She said: “I just wasn’t going to go for too long – I wasn’t going to stay until close – and ended up staying there a bit longer.”

The babysitter called to say she was concerned about Aria’s health and breathing, but Ms Kirby said she thought she was “playing up” and put her phone on charge behind the bar.

She said: “I didn’t think there was actually something wrong with her.

“That was a regular thing for me at home, at night she would cry and kick off and say she needed her spray when she didn’t want to go to bed.”

Ms Kirby said the reason there were so many boxes of daily medication montelukast found after Aria’s death – six unsealed – was because she was given her full prescription when requesting new blue inhalers.

Area coroner Michael Pemberton said: “I think you admitted in a police interview that the montelukast wasn’t always being given”.

Ms Kirby said she would forget “once or twice” but gave it to her regularly, and would always remember to give her the purple inhaler – for preventing attacks – at morning and night.

Mr Pemberton said there were “clearly occasions” where she couldn’t have given her the inhaler and asked if she’d given Aria the inhaler before leaving on August 9.

Mr Kirby said: “No, because I wasn’t supposed to be out as long as I was – I was going to give it when I got back.”

Asked if she would have woken Aria up, as she was being put to bed, she replied: “No, I would have done it while she was asleep”.

‘I did admit I was struggling’

Aria Marie Gilford (Image: Family)

Ms Kirby said three appointments were missed as she was called by the clinic last minute to tell her it was cancelled, but Mr Pemberton said there is no record of this.

She said: “I don’t know how they’re saying it’s not on their record because that happened three times.”

Mr Pemberton said: “You appear to have answered these phone calls for missed appointments – but there’s a number of other phone calls from nurses where you didn’t answer.”

Ms Kirby said: “I did admit I was struggling with it – I admitted I was struggling to control the kids at home and keeping on top of things.”

She said she had spoken to Sharples School’s safeguarding lead on the school run to tell them she was struggling in mid-July.

But Heather Aspinall, representing the school, said there was no record of this conversation.

Ms Kirby said she hadn’t followed up on missed appointments as there were “so many people involved” she was “overwhelmed” and didn’t know who to contact for which appointment.

She accepted management of Aria’s asthma was “not the best it could be”.

Ms Kirby said the nebuliser – given to her by a friend’s mum – was only used once when Aria was “having a coughing fit”.

‘The threshold for referral was much too high’

Aria Marie Gilford (Image: Family)

Mr Pemberton said there were “at least three teams” seeing Aria, but “there doesn’t appear to have been any communication between them”.

Fiona Farnworth, a safeguarding nurse, said the risk factors of children who miss appointments is assessed and must reach a threshold before it is flagged.

She said Ms Kirby had given “a very credible account of understanding of asthma”, but Mr Pemberton suggested the “threshold for referral was much too high”.

Aria’s dad, Brandon Gilford, said he felt there was a “complete disregard for Aria’s condition” and asked why it takes “for a child to die” for changes to be made.

Dr Joanna Morgan, a consultant paediatrician, said Aria had been taken to A&E 12 times, had four missed appointments with community nurses, three with consultants and nine failed contacts by telephone.

She said with paper records, the physical size of the file would let you know “that’s a complicated child”, but it’s much harder to get that sense from a digital file.

Mr Pemberton raised concerns that a better method of flagging concerns on electronic records has still not yet been implemented.

The inquest continues.