Seriously ill children put at risk by firm’s failure to deliver NHS medication

Children with serious health conditions are getting sicker as a result of persistent failings by Sciensus, a private company paid millions by the NHS to deliver essential medication, the Guardian can reveal.

Parents of sick children say they are repeatedly let down by botched, delayed or missed deliveries, while NHS paediatric clinicians warn some are suffering avoidable harm as a result.

Sciensus failed to send injections to Autumn Powell, an eight-year-old girl with Crohn’s disease, four times this year, according to her mother, Dallas Powell. As a result, she has suffered stomach cramping, pain and fatigue, and been off school sick.

“It makes me mad, frustrated, but mostly it’s heartbreaking seeing my child suffering – and feeling helpless,” Powell said. “I am not one to go and complain publicly, but this is serious.”

In a complaint to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the care regulator, three NHS paediatric clinicians working at two of the UK’s largest children’s hospitals have raised multiple concerns about Sciensus.

Medicines ordered by the NHS to be sent urgently to sick children were delayed or never arrived, they said. Parents of those with serious health conditions also experienced difficulties with the company’s app. In some cases Sciensus did not respond to emails and calls about children’s missing medicines.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 May 2023