Children may be COVID-19 ‘collateral damage’

Children may have died from non-coronavirus illnesses because they are not coming to hospital quickly enough, amid concerns NHS 111 may be giving flawed advice to stay away, according to senior paediatricians.

HSJ understands the concern about 111 giving the wrong advice to parents who should travel to hospital had been “escalated” to national leaders.

Several senior paediatric leaders in London raised serious concerns to HSJ. They said several children in the past week had been admitted to intensive care in London, and had been harmed — and, in some cases, died — because of the issue, though they did not want to identify particular hospitals or cases. The sources said it was a national problem.

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Source: HSJ, 3 April 2020