In yet another appalling case, a nine year old boy lost his life due to his school's incompetence in dealing with his fish allergy. Student of Al-Hijrah School in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, Ismaeel Ashraf died on March 3- the case however, was only brought to light after an investigation into the incident concluded.
The child collapsed less than two hours after eating a lunch of fish fingers and chips in the school. Even after he complained to teachers that he feeling unwell and that his stomach was hurting, around an hour after lunchtime, Ismaeel wasn't given an epipen injection to stop the reaction, despite his allergies known to the school staff. The child was instead asked to walk down to the school's reception area, and given Pirotin when he got there. He soon began having difficulties and asked for his inhaler. Ismaeel reportedly said “I'm going to die” a couple of seconds before he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Following a four-day hearing, an inquest jury has concluded the school's neglect as part of the death. Senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, Louise Hunt said there were several problems with the way the school managed children with allergies. She said she will write to the local authority to highlight her concerns. The kitchen staff admitted that they did not read the book. Al-Hijrah has a red book consisting names of children with allergies. Ismaeel's name was on it for his allergic reactions to fish, nuts, dairy products, tuna in brine and kiwi fruit. The inquest heard that kitchen assistant Jemma Sheedy had asked the chef if he could have fish fingers, which contained pollock, and was told that he could.
It was reported that he had fish and chips every week at the school and never had any reaction. Sheedy said, “About five pupils wore badges showing their allergies, one of them was Ismaeel but over time the pupils stopped wearing their badges but we already knew what they were. There’s a red book which has people’s allergies in by the counter. But I've never looked at Ismaeel’s. I asked the chef if the allergy boys could have the fish fingers. I was told they could. I was leaving school when told by a colleague Ismaeel had an allergic reaction to fish. When we looked in the book later we were shocked to see Ismaeel was allergic to fish.”
Hunt said, “Care plans are still not in place for all pupils with health needs, including Ismaeel's sister who is also a pupil at the school. Not all the care plans which have been drawn up have been given to the catering company responsible for dishing up all meals. Lanyards meant to be worn round the necks of children with food allergies are not being worn properly.”
