Baby not given antibiotics ‘until after cardiac arrest’

On Thursday, a junior doctor on the unit told the court she did not return to Ben with antibiotics after another patient needed urgent attention.

Dr Jessica Spaull told the inquest she could not recall a conversation with a consultant about giving Ben antibiotics, other than it would be “reasonable to start”.

“I recall I was in the process of doing that [writing up the prescription] when another of my allocated patients… when their endocrinal tube was accidentally removed,” she said.

“I recall I went over to that bed in an emergency, and I recall that I was involved re-intubating that patient.

“That meant I had not completed that prescription at that point.”

She realised the prescription had not been administered while completing a handover for the evening shift.

“I recall looking at the drug chart and realising that the antibiotic prescribed earlier hadn’t been given,” she said.