Source : Perth Now news
Healthcare failures and parental advocacy in hospitals will be under the spotlight in a coroner’s findings into a toddler’s tragic death.
Pippa Mae White died of sepsis in June 2022, weeks before her third birthday, and findings from a coronial inquest will be handed down on Tuesday.
The young girl died after being transferred from her hometown of Cowra to Orange Hospital in the NSW central west.
The inquest heard multiple healthcare failures including understaffing, a lack of training and missed opportunities for escalation, Pippa’s mother has said.
A key concern raised in the inquest was the dismissal of Annah White’s warnings that her daughter was sicker than treating clinicians realised.
Ms White took Pippa to hospital in Cowra on June 12, about three days after she began experiencing a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Eventually transferred to Orange, an experienced pediatrician believed Pippa was getting better after reading notes from a doctor at Cowra.
But Ms White testified that at the time her daughter was “lethargic” and vomiting fluids given to her.
At Orange Base Hospital, tests revealed the toddler had pneumonia with a complete white-out of her left lung.
Further delays occurred before she suffered two cardiac arrests and died about 12.30pm on June 13.
Since Pippa’s death, Ms White has been working with the NSW government’s Clinical Excellence Commission to implement a program designed to give more say to concerned families.
The Raise It campaign allows parents and carers who feel their loved ones’ condition is being overlooked to ring a helpline and seek guidance from a senior health worker.
The impetus for Raise It came from stories like Pippa’s and the high-profile case of two-year-old Joe Massa, who died of a cardiac arrest at Northern Beaches Hospital in September 2024.
A week-long inquest into the circumstances leading up to Joe’s death is set to begin later this month.
Raise It was officially rolled out in NSW hospitals in March and the efficacy of its protocols is likely to be the subject of some of Deputy State Coroner Joan Baptie’s findings.
Accurately assessing toddlers for sepsis and ensuring all health workers are familiar with the signs of the illness was also a theme of the inquest.
The nurse who triaged Pippa at Cowra Hospital admitted she had not looked at the hospital’s pediatric sepsis pathway when assessing her.
Many of Pippa’s family and friends are expected to attend the NSW Coroner’s Court in Sydney for the delivery of the findings
