NHS let down tragic Kyle Keen

Kyle Keen could have been saved.

Staff at Walsall Manor Hospital will have to live with the knowledge that if they had referred this tragic, abused 16-month-old to social care services, there is a 'significant probability' that he would not have died.

At times like this it is usually pointed out that such failings are a rarity, that the National Health Service does an exceptional job for the vast majority of people and so on.

But it is also depressingly the case that such rare incidents happen regularly enough that people demand to know how many more children must die before the authorities will change the way they work.

The person responsible for baby Kyle's injuries was his stepfather, Tyrone Matthews, who was sentenced to six and a half years for manslaughter.

An investigation shows the little boy's fate need not have been sealed, had his bruises been dealt with as opposed to merely noted.

Concerns had been raised by a doctor, David Drew, who was dismissed for gross misconduct and insubordination and for disclosing confidential information.

Meanwhile at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital, a fine of more than half a million pounds has been levied because it did not hit national targets.

We are told the money will be re-invested in the local health economy.

Surely it would have been better to let New Cross keep it. How is it supposed to meet these arbitrary targets when its resources are squeezed even further?

Here we are, then, in 2014, almost four years on from the opening of the public inquiry into Stafford Hospital, where another is shown to have fallen short of what was expected and another is being hit in its budget for not meeting NHS targets.

Has the NHS learned nothing from Stafford?

Procedures, protocol and targets have their place.

But doctors and nurses who are free to speak their minds, raise concerns and then follow them up will save more lives than meaningless numbers.

Funding for the health service is there to heal the sick and injured. It should not be put into a circle of bureaucracy, moved around from one arm to another in fines and taken up paying people to argue over the targets.

All Kyle Keen needed of Walsall Manor was for a professional to speak up because he was too young to do so himself.

So forgive us for this overused phrase but it is appropriate today to demand; how many more must die before the NHS is cured?

Teacher can leave with head held high

Respected teacher Richard West has resigned from his position, mere months after being re-instated.

He was originally sacked from his job because of a freak accident.

While demonstrating how a pellet is fired from a gun as part of a physics lesson, it rebounded off a desk and hit a boy in the leg.

In a remarkable story reminiscent of a Dead Poets Society for the digital age, the boy started an online campaign to have his teacher re-instated, saying he received no worse an injury than he would from a safety pin.

The campaign worked and Wolverhampton's renowned St Peter's Collegiate School took Mr West back on.

We are not privy to all the details surrounding Mr West's resignation but it is claimed it was down to not receiving an apology.

It is a shame that he feels his position is no longer tenable.

Teaching is sometimes a thankless profession. It can even be dangerous, as another story of a boy arrested for allegedly stabbing a teacher with a pencil at a different school shows today.

We hope Mr West will take pride and comfort from the outpouring of respect and gratitude shown by young people that he has inspired over the years.

He can leave his job with his head held high.