Tragic delay in 999 response after newborn suffers cardiac arrest, inquest hears

In a harrowing ordeal, a grief-stricken mother screamed “Why are they not answering the f**king phone? ” after being unable to connect with 999 while her newborn baby suffered from a ‘prolonged period of cardiac arrest’.

The tragic sequence of events began after Wyllow-Raine Swinburn was born at John Radcliffe Hospital on September 27, 2022, and took a devastating turn shortly after being discharged home on the evening of September 29. The infant’s life abruptly ended following her collapse in the early morning of September 30.

Reports reveal that her mother, Amelia Pill, faced an agonising seven-minute wait as she desperately tried to get through to emergency services.

During this time, Wyllow-Raine’s family valiantly administered CPR for 40 minutes in a desperate bid to save her, awaiting the arrival of paramedics at their residence, information provided to the Oxford Coroner’s Court during 2023 indicated. Senior Coroner Darren Salter has since postponed the inquest to secure additional evidence.

A pre-inquest review into the death of the tragically young three-day-old took place at Oxford Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, October 2, as reported by the Sun. 

On the morning of the tragedy, when Wyllow-Raine seemed to have ceased breathing, her mother dialled for an ambulance at 4.38am, but the family endured a distressing delay of over seven minutes before the call was picked up by the ambulance service, reports the Mirror.

Amelia jolted her brother with her cries: “Why are they not answering the f**king phone? “.

Meanwhile, the baby’s grandmother Anna Fisher, who had been downstairs tending to the dogs, rushed upstairs upon hearing Amelia’s despairing shouts: “No-one is coming, no-one is coming.”

An ambulance arrived at a family residence at 5.09am, tragically over half an hour after the emergency call was placed. The infant, Wyllow-Raine, was rushed to John Radcliffe Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly upon arrival.

A thorough post-mortem examination found no abnormalities with Wyllow-Raine, including any exceptionally rare conditions. Consequently, paediatric pathologist Dr Darren Farrell concluded that her death was due to sudden unexpected death in infancy, which remains unexplained.

In the wake of this tragedy, Oxford University NHS Foundation Trust conducted an internal review. The investigation suggested that Wyllow-Raine had likely experienced an extended cardiac arrest prior to the emergency call being made.

The inquiry determined that the response time for the 999 call and the subsequent arrival of the ambulance were “not likely to be influenced by the time taken to answer the 999 call and the arrival of the ambulance”.

The comprehensive inquest is scheduled to continue on December 2-3, 2024.