UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Hannah Doyle from the UK urges Leeds NHS Trust’s inclusion in the national investigation into maternity and neonatal care. She highlights failings in children’s care and seeks improvements to prevent future tragedies.
As Leeds Live reported, a mother is calling for her son to be remembered after serious concerns over his medical care. Hannah Doyle from the UK was told during her pregnancy that her baby, Zander, had a congenital heart defect. When he was born in October 2022, doctors said he would need open-heart surgery.
Zander also had Noonan Syndrome, a genetic condition affecting the heart and other organs. The Leeds NHS Trust did not test for this condition before the surgery. His diagnosis came only after the operation on January 2, 2024. Zander also had a 5q15 gene deletion, which Hannah believes was not fully investigated. She says proper testing could have saved his life.
What failings at Leeds NHS Trust led to Zander Doyle’s death?
After his heart surgery, Zander was sent home on December 5, 2023. He soon became seriously ill and suffered severe brain injuries. Despite medical care, he died on June 22, 2024. The UK government has launched a national investigation into maternity and neonatal care at 14 NHS Trusts, including the Leeds Trust, following concerns about patient safety.
Hannah wants her son’s story included in the review. She hopes it will help improve care for other children and prevent future tragedies. She said:
“All that matters to me really, is that things can be learned from this and other people not go through this journey, because it blows up your whole life.
It’s had an impact on my other children, it’s had an impact on me and my wider family and friends, it impacts everybody. It’s touched everybody.
Zander taught us so much, and he’s taught us unconditional love and acceptance, especially in terms of things like disability awareness.”
Hannah Doyle is urging the investigators at Leeds NHS Trust to take a more holistic approach and not limit their inquiry to maternity and neonatal care, but to consider the broader failings in children’s healthcare. According to her, the case of her son, Zander, illustrates grave problems in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, and appropriate follow-up care.
Hannah faced major challenges getting Zander diagnosed with Noonan Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects multiple organs. She says staff did not act on her concerns quickly and did not consider the condition in his treatment plan before his surgery. She also asked for second opinions, but says the trust refused, leaving her unable to fully advocate for her son’s care.
Hannah said:
“Ultimately, I feel like Leeds just didn’t care. I’ve tried to arrange meetings with them, I tried to speak to them, and they fob you off, or they don’t bring the right people to the meetings. They’re just very, very difficult to communicate with, and I just feel like, once your child dies, they just close the book and they don’t really want to know anymore.”
After Zander’s heart surgery, Hannah says he didn’t receive support at home. He lived with a very limited quality of life before his death. She believes these failings contributed to the outcome and reflect wider issues in how the trust treats children with complex medical needs.
Dr Magnus Harrison, Chief Medical Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said:
“We are deeply sorry for Ms Doyle’s loss and recognise this must be a very difficult time for her and her family.”
Hannah said,
“I feel like if I’d have gone to Great Ormond Street and if he’d have had open heart surgery at another trust, any other trust, I feel like he’d be alive today,
That’s the hardest bit of this, you feel like it’s just such a negative postcode lottery, living in West Yorkshire and having that as your hospital.
We are working with Ms Doyle to investigate her concerns about Zander’s care. While this is ongoing we cannot comment on this in detail.”