Boy’s sepsis death was “organisational system failure” says NHS board

A nine-year-old died because of “organisational system failure”, an NHS health board has admitted. Last week a coroner concluded that Dylan Cope, who died of sepsis in December 2022, was “erroneously discharged”. Dylan was suffering from appendicitis when he went to the emergency room at the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, Wales. Although his GP note indicated this could be the case, the coroner heard that the on-duty nurse practitioner did not read the note and Dylan was sent home with a leaflet on the flu. He died a few days later. The local health board said the death occurred in a department under “extreme pressure”. More than 140 NHS hospitals have now signed up for Martha’s rule, which gives patients and their families easier access to a second opinion.