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Police decide not to pursue charges against hospital over Bawa-Garba case

Police have decided not to pursue charges against a Leicester hospital regarding the death of six-year-old Jack Adcock, which ultimately led to a junior doctor being struck off the medical register.

Leicestershire Police told Pulse that discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service had concluded with no evidence to warrant charges against the hospital.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) wrote to Leicestershire Police earlier this year about the case involving Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, detailing the problems at the hospital that could amount to a ’gross breach of the trust’s duty of care to the patient’.

But the police told Pulse: ‘Following a letter received from BAPIO concerning the tragic death of Jack Adcock, discussions were carried out between the force and the Crown Prosecution Service.

‘However, there remains no new evidence that would warrant charges being brought against University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.’

Earlier this year, the trust released a serious incident report into the incident, which found that there was no ‘single root cause’ behind the death of the six-year-old boy.

The case attracted controversy after Dr Bawa-Garba was struck off by the GMC following a High Court trial, having originally been allowed to continue practising by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).

Dr Bawa-Garba was a registrar at the Children’s Assessment Unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary on 18 February 2011, and the most senior doctor on the shift, when a six-year-old child with sepsis died.

The junior doctor continued to work at the hospital trust up until she was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter in November 2015.

Dr Bawa-Garba has been granted permission to appeal the GMC’s decision to strike her off the medical register, with the appeal to be heard at the High Court next week (25 July).

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust declined to comment.