Amelia Pill with Wyllow-Raine Swinburn. Wyllow-Raine Swinburn died after her mum spent seven minutes waiting for someone to answer a 999 call, a previous hearing was told. (Image: Leigh Day SWNS)

Baby dies as mum cried 'why are they not answering?' when 999 didn't respond

Amelia Pill reportedly spent seven minutes waiting for someone to answer her emergency call on September 30, 2022.

by · Daily Record

A newborn baby tragically died after her mum was unable to get through to 999.

Amelia Pill reportedly spent seven minutes waiting for someone to answer her emergency call on September 30, 2022, leaving her shouting "Why are they not answering the f**king phone?"

Little Wyllow-Raine Swinburn was born at John Radcliffe Hospital on September 27, 2022. She was discharged home two days later, however collapsed in the early hours of September 30 and went into a 'prolonged period of cardiac arrest'.

The distraught family spent 40 minutes giving her CPR as they waited for paramedics to arrive at their home, Oxford Coroner's Court was told in 2023. At the time Senior Coroner Darren Salter adjourned the inquest to allow for further evidence to be gathered.

A pre-inquest review (PIR) into the death of the three-day-old was held at Oxford Coroner's Court yesterday (Wednesday, October 2), reports the Sun.

(Image: PA)

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When Wyllow-Raine appeared to have stopped breathing her mother called an ambulance at 4.38am. However there was a delay of over seven minutes in the emergency call being answered by the ambulance service.

She woke her brother by shouting: "Why are they not answering the f**king phone?"

The baby's grandmother Anna Fisher was downstairs looking after the dogs when it happened. She ran upstairs as Amelia was crying: "No-one is coming, no-one is coming."

The ambulance took over thirty minutes to arrive when the family were able to get through to the emergency services (Image: ilbusca)

An ambulance did not arrive at the family home until 5.09am, over 30 minutes after the call was made. The new-born was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital where devastatingly she was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.

A post-mortem revealed nothing abnormal about Wyllow-Raine – including any very rare conditions. As a result the paediatric pathologist Dr Darren Farrell determined her cause of death as sudden unexpected death in infancy, unexplained.

Following the death, Oxford University NHS Foundation Trust launched an internal investigation. It found that Wyllow-Raine would have been in a prolonged period of cardiac arrest before the 999 call.

The overall outcome was "not likely to be influenced by the time taken to answer the 999 call and the arrival of the ambulance".

The full inquest is due to resume on December 2-3, 2024.

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