‘They said they had no space’: Family says boy, 5, died after he was sent home from hospital
The grieving family of a five-year-old boy who died after being sent home from hospital have told Sky News he would still be alive if they had been listened to.
Zaheer Ahmed said he “begged and begged” for his nephew Yusuf Mahmud Nazir to be admitted to hospital but was told “there are no beds and not enough doctors”.
Yusuf first complained of a sore throat on 13 November. His parents took him to their GP, who prescribed antibiotics.
Zaheer Ahmed: ‘We’ve lost a beautiful child’
The next day, when their son’s health did not improve, they drove him to the emergency department of Rotherham General Hospital.
Mr Ahmed told Sky News that they waited all night to be seen by a doctor and after Yusuf was examined he was sent home, even though the doctor treating his nephew said “it was the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen”.
His nephew was struggling to breathe, could not swallow and was clearly in a distressed state, he said.
At home, after Yusuf’s condition deteriorated further, his worried parents called an ambulance and insisted he was taken to see the specialist paediatric team at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
But it was too late to save the young boy’s life.
The infection had spread to his lungs and caused multiple organ failure resulting in several cardiac arrests.
Yusuf died of pneumonia on Monday.
‘We begged and begged for help’
Mr Ahmed said: “He stopped breathing, he stopped talking, when he was choking, he couldn’t breathe. He was struggling. And it’s led to his life being taken at five years old.
“If they would have treated him where we wanted him to be treated he would be here with us now.
“He would have been here playing like he was. We’ve lost a beautiful child… it’s not his fault. We begged and begged and begged for help. We couldn’t get it. We just did not get the help we wanted, or we needed or we should have got.
“They kept saying to us, they kept saying to us, ‘We’ve got one doctor. What do you want us to do? We’ve got no beds available. What do you want us to do? We’ve got no space for him. What do you want us to do? Complain to the big people, don’t complain to us. Complain to the big ones that only gave us one doctor’.”
Mr Ahmed said he wanted some good to come from his nephew’s life.
He said: “Even if it saves one child’s life, saves one parent going through what we’re going through, it saves one family to suffer what we’ve suffered. That will be enough for me.
“If Yusuf, who’s passed away, if he can save one child, we’re happy. We do not want anybody to go through this. And we’re just asking them to please listen to people. Because when you don’t listen to people, this is what happens.”
Dr Richard Jenkins, chief executive of the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, has offered his condolences to Yusuf’s family and told Sky News: “We have commenced a thorough investigation into Yusuf’s care, which will include liaison with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
“We have contacted the family and will continue to do so as part of the investigation.”
No children’s intensive care beds south of Stoke
Children’s doctors call November “paediatric winter”. The season starts with a spike in winter respiratory viruses and as these cases subside, flu cases rise.
Senior paediatric consultants have told Sky News about their concerns of unsustainable pressure on emergency children’s services.
One doctor said child patients were being transferred to his London hospital from Wales because there were no PICU (paediatric intensive care unit) beds available anywhere in England south of Stoke.
In response, an NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS has seen a sharp rise in the number of children requiring invasive ventilation with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in recent weeks and as a result, pressure on paediatric intensive care units has been higher than usual.
“The NHS has tried and tested surge plans in place which includes mutual aid between hospitals and paediatric specialists to ensure services are able to provide the highest quality care to all children and we have reminded local areas about this guidance.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “All children deserve the highest levels of care and we are taking urgent action to ensure no families have to experience these kinds of tragedies.
“Last week we announced up to £8bn for health and social care in 2024/25 and we’re giving an extra £500m to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds, ensuring people are only in hospital for as long as they need to be.
“The NHS is also creating the equivalent of 7,000 more beds this winter – enabling hospitals to treat patients sooner, including by using remote monitoring to provide care at home or in the community.”
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Read more:
Sky’s Beth Rigby running marathon in honour of ‘dearest friend’
Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform
Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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