THE grieving parents of a Redditch school boy who died after being sent home from hospital without a life-saving blood test have called on an NHS trust to personally apologise for his death.

Callum Cartlidge died aged eight in March 2017 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Hours earlier he had been discharged from Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

An inquest in May concluded that Callum would have survived if a blood test, which would have diagnosed his rare illness Addison’s Disease, had been undertaken the day before his death.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has said that after the inquest it publicly apologised.

Callum's parents Stacey, aged 34, and Aidy aged 38, said they are upset at the trust and have never had a personal apology.

In a statement they said: “The day Callum died our family changed forever. Callum was such a fun, infectious boy who was loved by everyone. He had his whole life ahead of him.

“All we have ever wanted is to fully establish why Callum died and what measures have been taken so other families don’t have to live with the hurt and pain that we continue to experience.

“An apology won’t bring Callum back but at least if the trust said sorry and said what is being done to help patients, our family may be able to try and move on.”

Following Callum's death Stacey and Aidy instructed lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the care given by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Caroline Brogan, from Irwin Mitchell, said: “Nothing can ever make up for Callum’s death but his family would like to try and move on with their lives the best they can. An apology would provide them with some kind of closure."

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Following Callum’s inquest, the trust publicly apologised for the failures described by the coroner and we would not hesitate to repeat this apology.

"The coroner recognised that we had carried out our own thorough review of what happened to Callum to make sure that we learn from his death for the benefit of patients in the future.

“We have improved record keeping and documentation on our children’s ward, and the quality of records including fluid charts, is regularly audited. We also shared our learning on Addison’s Disease with colleagues and put in place new processes to allow ambulance crews, GPs and other health professionals to refer children in need of urgent attention directly to our children’s ward."