'We are re-living it every day' says family of Yusuf Nazir, five, who died after being turned away by A&E
The family of a five-year-old South Yorkshire boy who died eight days after he was sent home from A&E said today: “We are re-living it every day.”
Yusuf Nazir died at Sheffield Children's Hospital on November 23, 2022, eight days after he was seen at Rotherham Hospital and sent home with antibiotics.
His family believe his death was a result of system failures across two hospitals and other services.
Speaking outside Sheffield Coroners' Court today, Yusuf's uncle Zaheer Ahmed said: "It's been a very, very tough fight, coming up to four years now since Yusuf died.
"So it's been a very tough fight to get here, and we just want the answers that that we deserve for Yusuf.
"We just want to know how Yusuf has died."
Mr Ahmed said: "It's very, very tough for us, because we are really re-living it every day.
"We're going through all statements, we're re-living everything every time.
"So every time we try to put something a little bit to the side, it's coming back again."
He said: "But we just want answers, and we don't want another family to go through what we're going through."
He added: "The inquest is independent, so they will look at it completely independently and make a decision on how Yusuf has died."
Yusuf, who had asthma, was taken to a GP with a sore throat and feeling unwell on November 15, 2022.
He was prescribed antibiotics by an advanced nurse practitioner.
Later that evening, his parents took him to Rotherham Hospital urgent and emergency care centre where he was seen in the early hours of the morning after a six-hour wait.
He was discharged with a diagnosis of severe tonsillitis and an extended prescription of antibiotics.
Yusuf's family have always said they were told "there are no beds and not enough doctors" in the emergency department at Rotherham , and that Yusuf should have been admitted and given intravenous antibiotics.
Two days later, Yusuf was given further antibiotics by his GP for a possible chest infection, but his family became so concerned they called an ambulance and insisted the paramedics take him to Sheffield Children's Hospital rather than Rotherham .
Yusuf was admitted to the intensive care unit on November 21 but developed multi-organ failure and suffered several cardiac arrests, which he did not survive.
The new report published in July 2025 concluded: "Our primary finding is that the parental concerns, particularly the mother's instinct that her child was unwell, were repeatedly not addressed across services."
In December, the family met Health Secretary Wes Streeting in London and said he was taking their concerns over Yusuf's death "very, very seriously".