{"id":186461,"date":"2025-12-11T09:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186461\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:57:10","slug":"family-told-ambulances-are-not-taxis-as-they-begged-for-help-before-son-5-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186461\/","title":{"rendered":"Family told &#8216;ambulances are not taxis&#8217; as they begged for help before son, 5, died"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died in November 2022, just days after he was sent home from hospital with antibiotics<\/p>\n<p>Lucy Thornton News Reporter and Christopher Adams GAU Content Editor<\/p>\n<p>07:58, 11 Dec 2025Updated 08:23, 11 Dec 2025<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-death.jpg\" alt=\"Yusuf Mahmud Nazir\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Yusuf Mahmud Nazir&#8217;s family are pushing for a &#8216;Yusuf&#8217;s Law&#8217; in his memory(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The family of a young boy who tragically died after being discharged from A&amp;E have revealed that the five-year-old has already saved &#8220;hundreds and hundreds of children&#8217;s lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Yusuf Mahmud Nazir passed away in November 2022, eight days after being assessed in hospital and sent home with antibiotics. Yesterday, his family met with the UK&#8217;s Health Secretary <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/wes-streeting\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Wes StreetingLink opens in a new tab.\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\">Wes Streeting<\/a> in London to advocate for Yusuf&#8217;s Law, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/uk-news\/family-begged-help-were-told-36379613\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"the Mirror reportsLink opens in a new tab.\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\">the Mirror reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The family is pushing for national guidance that recognises parents&#8217; instincts when &#8220;something feels very wrong&#8221; with their child, after their own concerns were dismissed. They also discussed the report into Yusuf&#8217;s care, published in July, and received assurances from the Mr Streeting that the recommendations would not be forgotten.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-family-meet-Wes-Streeting.jpg\" alt=\"Soniya Ahmed and Zaheer Ahmed\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Soniya Ahmed and Zaheer Ahmed, mother and uncle of five-year-old Yusuf Mahmud Nazir(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Following the meeting, Yusuf&#8217;s uncle, Zaheer Ahmed, 42, said: &#8220;Yusuf&#8217;s legend is already saving lives&#8221;. He said they were happy that the British Government was treating their demands for change &#8220;very, very seriously&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s important that this is taken very seriously and these concerns are addressed nationally,&#8221; Mr Ahmed explained. He also shared how they had discussed Yusuf&#8217;s continuing impact on protecting other children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Maybe his life was shortened to save hundreds and hundreds of other children. We want to prevent any other child going through what Yusuf&#8217;s been through. Within the local <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/hospitals\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"hospitalsLink opens in a new tab.\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\">hospitals<\/a> we can see that people are using Yusuf&#8217;s name, to get the right care. His name is getting used quite a lot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Some of the trusts are also using Yusuf&#8217;s name in their training. His legend is saving people&#8217;s lives. Wes Streeting also made a comment on that and said &#8216;we are sure Yusuf has saved many many lives already&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765447029_267_0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-death.jpg\" alt=\"Yusuf Mahmud Nazir\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Before his death, Yusuf pleaded &#8216;Mummy I can&#8217;t breathe'(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Speaking about the family&#8217;s ongoing grief, Mr Ahmed said: &#8220;It&#8217;s absolutely broken our hearts, it&#8217;s destroyed our hearts. Thinking about what could have been done, what could have been easily preventable. If only we&#8217;d been listened to, if only it was acted on, if only we were taken seriously, then Yusuf would have been still with us&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The family recounted their desperate pleas for antibiotics, being told an ambulance was &#8216;not a taxi&#8217;, and witnessing other ill children waiting in hospital corridors. Mr Ahmed continued: &#8220;There&#8217;s not a day goes by where we don&#8217;t speak about Yusuf, where we&#8217;re not sharing family photographs of Yusuf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Our other children, Yusuf&#8217;s cousins, Yusuf&#8217;s brothers, they&#8217;re all struggling daily, asking, &#8216;When&#8217;s Yusuf coming back? He&#8217;s been gone for a while, when&#8217;s he back? He&#8217;s not answering our FaceTime&#8217;. He&#8217;s got two brothers, one is 13 years old and one just turned 18. It&#8217;s very, very difficult for them because they&#8217;re asking, &#8216;Why has Yusuf been taken? Why did Yusuf die? Why did it have to be him?&#8217; It&#8217;s left us with a lifetime of trauma.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765447030_194_0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-death.jpg\" alt=\"Soniya Ahmed\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Yusuf&#8217;s mum, Soniya Ahmed, said her son had been failed &#8220;catastrophically&#8221;(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A solicitor representing the family previously told a pre-inquest review hearing that relatives believed there had been &#8220;a number of significant systems failures&#8221; at Sheffield Children&#8217;s Hospital, where he died, and Rotherham General Hospital, where he was treated earlier. Yusuf&#8217;s family have consistently maintained they were informed &#8220;there are no beds and not enough doctors&#8221; in the emergency department at Rotherham, and that their son ought to have been admitted and administered intravenous antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The care review published in July concluded: &#8220;Our primary finding is that the parental concerns, particularly the mother&#8217;s instinct that her child was unwell, were repeatedly not addressed across services. A reliance on clinical metrics over caregiver insight caused distress for the family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;This led to a lack of shared decision-making and there was limited evidence of collaborative discussions with Yusuf&#8217;s family around clinical decisions, leading to a sense of exclusion and reduced trust in care plans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Yusuf, who suffered from asthma, was brought to his GP surgery presenting with a sore throat and feeling poorly on November 15, 2022. An advanced nurse practitioner prescribed antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765447030_18_0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-death.jpg\" alt=\"Yusuf Mahmud Nazir\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Yusuf was sent home from hospital with antibiotics but died a week later(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Later that same evening, his parents brought him to Rotherham&#8217;s urgent and emergency care centre, where he was eventually assessed in the early morning hours following a six-hour wait. He was sent home with a diagnosis of severe tonsillitis and an extended course of antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Two days later, Yusuf was prescribed additional antibiotics by his GP for a potential chest infection. However, his family&#8217;s worry escalated to the point where they called an ambulance and insisted that the paramedics take him to Sheffield Children&#8217;s Hospital instead of Rotherham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">On November 21, Yusuf was admitted to the intensive care unit but unfortunately developed multi-organ failure and suffered several cardiac arrests from which he did not recover. He died on November 23. A comprehensive inquest into his death is scheduled to commence on 13 April next year.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765447030_532_0_Yusuf-Mahmud-Nazir-family-meet-Wes-Streeting.jpg\" alt=\"Zaheer Ahmed\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Yusuf&#8217;s uncle Zaheer Ahmed was among the family members to meet the UK Health Secretary this week(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">At a meeting attended by Yusuf&#8217;s mother, Soniya Ahmed, and their lawyer, Anna Thwaites, Mr Ahmed stated: &#8220;We believe that the inquest will come out with a lot more truth about what happened to Yusuf. We wanted to make sure that parents&#8217; voices are heard, it&#8217;s very important that parents get their voices heard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Earlier this year, Yusuf&#8217;s mum spoke at a press conference. Ms Ahmed shared her haunting memory of her son pleading, &#8216;Mummy I can&#8217;t breathe&#8217;. She said her &#8220;happy little boy&#8221; had been failed &#8220;catastrophically&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;For the medical staff there are lessons to be learnt from this tragedy, but for us, our life, Yusuf has been taken away from us in the most horrific way,&#8221; Ms Ahmed said. &#8220;My son went into hospital with tonsillitis and he never returned home. My son was left to die right beside me. He was crying in pain. Yet received no pain relief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;&#8230;The report concludes that 13 missed opportunities to escalate Yusuf&#8217;s care. All while I was trusting the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/nhs\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"NHSLink opens in a new tab.\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\">NHS<\/a> to protect him. They failed him catastrophically.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died in November 2022, just days after he was sent home from hospital with antibiotics&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,100897,396,3267,61,51277,60,782,74244],"class_list":{"0":"post-186461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-health-services","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-hospitals","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-inquests","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-nhs","17":"tag-wes-streeting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}