Drip bags found 'sabotaged' at hospital after girl, 3, dies

DETECTIVES are investigating the death of a three-year-old girl at a hospital where intravenous drip bags were found to have been punctured, apparently on purpose.

The child, who has not been named, was taken to Basildon University Hospital in Essex on Friday and died on Saturday morning.

On Sunday 12 intravenous fluid bags in a store room for the children's wards were found to have been punctured.

They have been sent for forensic analysis to see if they were spiked with any dangerous drugs or other substances.

Essex Police have not revealed what condition the girl was suffering from but a spokeswoman said a post-mortem examination was being held today.

She added: "Essex Police is investigating the circumstances leading up to the death of a three-year-old child who was taken to Basildon University Hospital seriously ill and who sadly died the following morning.

"This investigation is being run in tandem to the investigation into the damage to 12 intravenous bags discovered at the store room in the paediatric wards on Sunday evening. However there is no evidence to link the two incidents at this time."

Detectives have been checking through patient records and they were today interviewing anyone involved in the girl's medical care as well as other staff at the hospital.

Worried parents of children at the hospital were handed a letter signed by Alan Whittle, chief executive of Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

It said: "We were concerned because the damage appeared to be deliberate and therefore called in Essex Police to investigate."

The letter said CCTV footage was being examined and a forensic examination of the store room was being carried out. "As a precaution, all stocks of intravenous fluids elsewhere in the hospital have been checked by pharmacy staff. We have also increased our security presence on the children's unit."

The trust's director of nursing, Maggie Rogers, said: "I can reassure our local community that we rapidly took necessary steps to ensure patient safety."