Joel Rawlinson with his his dad Lee. Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice A young boy told his dad 'you'll be ok' in his heartbreaking last words before he slipped into unconsciousness and later died. Joel Rawlinson, 12, became critically ill when he collapsed while on his Playstation at home on December 29, 2019. He was admitted to A&E at North Manchester General Hospital but crucial delays in treating him led to his death. The child was was born with heart problems and had surgery when he was a baby but had otherwise been fit and healthy before he collapsed. An inquest found that medics concentrated on trying to find out the cause of the problems instead of recognising how poorly he was so he could be moved to a specialist children's hospital, Manchester Evening News reports. Read More Related Articles
Strictly Come Dancing star confirms split from long term partner after years together Read More Related Articles Humza Yousaf 'not surprised' no arrests were made over JK Rowling posts His family later found out that fell severely ill at home because of an aneurysm and later died in hospital of cardiac respiratory failure. His dad Lee Rawlinson has slammed the hospital for its 'sickening' failures after an internal NHS review of Joe's death found medics should have discussed transferring him to a specialist children's hospital by 1am the following day, December 30, but this didn't happen until around 9am when it was too late. The inquest at Manchester Coroners' Court heard 'stretched' hospital staff tried to phone colleagues at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital instead of using the North West Transport Service (NWTS), through which district general hospitals are supposed to arrange for transfer to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital or Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Joel was stabilised and moved to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital at 5pm the following day, but his condition deteriorated again, the inquest heard. He was moved again and arrived at Alder Hey at 7.15pm - going into cardiac arrest on the journey - and he underwent emergency surgery. Joel died the following day at 2.20pm on January 1, 2020. Joel was healthy before he collapsed The inquest heard staff at North Manchester General were even said to have used fax to send over key information about Joel, an archaic practice that is said to have ended only in 2022. Despite how poorly Joel was, consideration was even given to moving the boy onto a regular children's ward at North Manchester, the inquest was told. Area coroner Paul Appleton recorded the medical cause of death as cardiac respiratory failure due to an aneurysm. He concluded the death was 'contributed to by the delay in recognising the severity' of Joel's condition and by 'delay in escalating' his treatment. Joel's father, Lee Rawlinson, 51, from Heyood, revealed he went to Joel's bedside at North Manchester General when he learned of the collapse. He split from Joel's mother in 2018. Lee said he didn't know about the details of inquest until he read about it in the M.E.N. Join the Daily Record
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BREAKING news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile , select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. The train company manager said: "I was going to work and I just burst into tears on the train. I didn't want people to see me upset. I was a bit embarrassed so I had to go home. I stayed in bed all day, crying. "We were very close. He was my life, everything. He was a part of me. When he died, it was like a part of me died. We were really close. He was really sporty and had a really good sense of humour, joking all the time. "He always put a smile on my face. We used to do park runs together, go jogging and go on bike rides together. He was a really fit lad. After what happened to him as a baby, there was no sign of anything wrong with him." He said reading about the failures in his care in the Manchester Evening News left him 'sick to the stomach'. He added: "We sort of knew there had been mistakes in a report from the hospital which said there were recommendations going forward. But nobody said at the time 'we could have saved Joel if we had [followed] different processes'. Joel should have been transferred to a specialist children's hospital. "It just makes me feel sick. I spoke to him and told him he was going to be okay and he passed away. To think they could have saved him if they had been quicker, it's terrible. It's devastating and really hard to live with that now." Lee said he went to Lee's bedside at North Manchester General when he learned he had collapsed, and joined him at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. He said he went in the ambulance with him to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where his son underwent emergency surgery. He spoke to his son for the last time at North Manchester General before he was sedated, adding: "He had breathing difficulties. He said he was scared to me. The last thing I said to Joel was that he would be okay. They sedated him and I never spoke to him again," said Lee. Joel's mother Rachel Messenger told the inquest her son had told her 'mum, I'm not feeling well', and had vomited blood and couldn't walk. Top news stories today Scot baby killer battered behind bars Video shows Scots toddler vaping Scots told 'learn to live with seagulls' Gambling Scots mum embezzled £30k After she was told a new paediatric 'early warning score' had been introduced nationally which took account of parental feelings, Ms Messenger told the court: "It doesn't change that our lives are wrecked. The people in this room know where these failings are. We know there are failings." She said her son had been left in A&E 'with smackheads' and he needed to be transferred to a specialist children's hospital. "There are big failings. I hope everyone can sleep well in their beds tonight," she said. Becoming upset, she said her son's treatment had been a 'fiasco' before walking out of the hearing. Earlier, Ms Messenger said that her son was vomiting for a week after he was born and later had two operations at Alder Hey Children's Hospital to repair his aorta. After his collapse and being admitted to North Manchester General, she told the inquest the number of people who seemed to be involved in his care at various times that night was 'horrific' and that 'nobody knew what they were doing' even though her son was 'dying'. Medics didn't recognise how poorly Joel was. Dr Katherine Potier, a consultant in emergency medicine and clinical director at North Manchester General, and Dr Imran Zamir, a consultant paediatrician at the hospital, both agreed Joel would probably have survived with earlier recognition of how poorly he was. Neither was directly involved in his care that night. Dr Potier accepted there had been no 'early warning score calculation' done for Joel on the night, adding that the 'Hive' digital patient records system had introduced a national scoring system across the NHS. She also accepted that there had been a delay in the instigation of a paediatric review that night so that the case could be escalated with senior consultants at home. The number of consultants at North Manchester had been raised from six-and-a-half to 16 since the tragedy, said Dr Potier, who went on that all but three of 52 'actions' suggested by the review following the tragedy had been implemented. She said staffing was now at 'much safer' levels at the hospital although she accepted there was 'a distance to go'. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement: "We again offer our sincere apologies and condolences to Joel's family. We are committed to providing the best care possible for our patients, and we will be studying the coroner's decision very carefully to ensure that learning is identified and implemented." Don't miss the latest news from around
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