Hospital where baby died from infected feed had ‘entirely unsafe system’

An NHS trust that gave four newborn babies contaminated feed has admitted that it was operating “an entirely unsafe system” at the time they became infected.

The admission came during evidence by a senior doctor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust (GSTT), who led its investigation into the outbreak, during an inquest into how one of the very premature babies died.

Dr William Newsholme was answering questions last week at the inquest at Southwark coroner’s court in London into the death of Aviva Otte at St Thomas’ hospital on 2 January 2014.

Newsholme was questioned about why the results of tests carried out on samples of the baby feed on 26 December 2013 did not come back until 6 January, by which time the baby had died and three others were ill.

He was asked if he would agree that the long delay meant that “that this is an entirely unsafe system within which to be preparing parenteral nutrition for the most vulnerable cohort of patients in your hospital”.

Newsholme, a consultant in infectious diseases and the trust’s clinical lead for infection prevention and control, answered: “Yes, I would.”

The inquest is examining events surrounding the deaths of Aviva and of two other babies, nine day-old Yousef Al-Kharboush and one-month-old Oscar Barker, in an outbreak of Bacillus cereus five months later which also involved contaminated feed. Nineteen babies at nine hospitals were infected in that outbreak, three of whom died.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 September 2024