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Watchdog to monitor Walsall NHS Trust after baby Kyle's death

Bosses of a health and care watchdog today said they will seek reassurances and monitor progress at an NHS trust after an independent report revealed a baby who was shaken to death could still be alive if hospital staff had referred him to social care services.

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The report, which was released yesterday, said there was a 'significant probability' that 16 month-old Kyle Keen, who had been admitted to Walsall Manor, would not have died if action had been taken to intervene.

The joint chairs of Healthwatch Walsall, Richard Przybylko and Rupy Pandaal, said it was reassuring that progress had been made in areas identified by the report but the organisation would continue to keep a close eye on the situation.

The Healthwatch group was formed last year under new Government legislation to help represent the views of people in the borough.

The youngster died in June 2006 following his transfer from Walsall Manor Hospital to the paediatric intensive care unit in Stoke when a bleed on the brain was diagnosed. He had been admitted a few days previously to Walsall Manor on June 21, 2006, where bruises were noted but no follow-up action was taken and he was discharged.

The toddler, from Walsall, was then admitted to the hospital off Pleck Road again on June 29 with a brain injury and died a day later.

Kyle had been shaken by his stepfather Tyrone Matthews, then aged 25, who was sentenced to six-and- a-half years in prison for manslaughter.

In a joint statement from Healthwatch Walsall's chairmen Mr Przybylko and Mr Pandaal, they said: "This was a tragic and shocking event, and the passage of time since it occurred have not lessened that in any way.

"Despite the failings identified here the Trust is to be commended for commissioning this review and for the open and transparent way in which it is dealing with its findings."

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