Baby dies after mum is unable to get through to 999 shouting 'Why aren't they answering the f**king phone?'

A heartbroken mum shouted "Why are they not answering the f**king phone?" after being unable to get through to 999 as her new-born baby went into a 'prolonged period of cardiac arrest'.

Wyllow-Raine Swinburn was born at John Radcliffe Hospital on September 27, 2022, and discharged home on the evening of September 29 but went on to collapse in the early hours of September 30. It is reported that she died after her mum, Amelia Pill, spent seven minutes waiting for someone to answer a 999 call.

Wyllow-Raine's family spent 40 minutes giving her CPR as they waited for paramedics 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),

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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 when it happened. She ran upstairs as Amelia was crying: "No-one is coming, no-one is coming."

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 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.