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Mum of boy who died from sepsis wants better care

Family Photo Dylan Cope smiles at the camera, he has curly brown hair and is wearing a grey puffa coat. Family Photo
Dylan Cope was first taken to hospital on 6 December 2022 and died eight days later

The mum of a nine-year-old boy who died after developing sepsis has said the NHS needs to change to stop others dying.

Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection and happens when a person's immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs, according to the NHS.

Dylan Cope, from Newport, was taken to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, in December 2022 with suspected appendicitis, but was wrongfully discharged with flu before dying of septic shock, an inquest in May 2024 found.

Aneurin Bevan health board has apologised to Dylan's family and said it was "determined to learn from this tragedy".

Dylan's mum Corinne Cope has since been working with the health board to implement a sepsis awareness plan.

A coroner found that Dylan's death "would have been avoided if he had not been erroneously discharged" and said what happened was "a gross failure of basic care".

She also urged Aneurin Bevan health board to "review the culture" around clinicians reading GP notes, after a note from Dylan's GP to "check for appendicitis" was not read.

Dylan was readmitted to hospital on 10 December and died four days later with multi-organ disfunction caused by a perforated appendix.

'Watching our child perish of sepsis will haunt us'

Ms Cope said her son's death would haunt her forever, adding: "To watch your child, to watch anyone suffer, but an innocent otherwise healthy child to perish from sepsis, it's brutal.

"It's a life sentence of pain".

Ms Cope told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that, after her son's death, she discovered "thousands of people are affected by sepsis, either have disabilities or lose their life, and it often - not always - can be prevented".

She said UK Sepsis Trust told her about sepsis diagnosis pilots in England and she discovered Wales was "a little bit behind".

The Aneurin Bevan health board has agreed to work with the UK Sepsis Trust to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of sepsis among staff and the public.

Ms Cope added: "I just want to do what I can and continue this good work with Aneurin Bevan, but [they are] one health board out of seven so my aim is to continue working with them and the UK Sepsis Trust to ensure this approach is monitored, maintained and measured.

"It's too late for Dylan, there's nothing that can change anything for him or us, but we can help others."

A woman stood in a garden looking at the camera. She has dark brown-shoulder-length hair.
Ms Cope says losing her son was "searingly painful every day"

In a statement, the health board said it accepted the coroner's findings and took full responsibly for failings in Dylan's care.

"We cannot imagine the heartbreak Dylan's family experience. We are determined to learn from this tragedy and make the improvements necessary to ensure this does not happen again.

"Changes have already been made, but we recognise that there is still more work to do."