A FATHER'S concerns surrounding the death of his baby son last year are to be investigated by the NW Regional Health Authority.

Mr Thomas Beardmore, of Tyldesley, has also been asked for further details of the case by the Attorney General.

Mr Beardmore and his wife were unhappy with the explanations they were given following the death of their 16 month old son Thomas in February 1995.

Mr Beardmore wants the Attorney General to order a full coroner's inquest into Thomas's death.

He is critical of senior staff and procedures at Bolton General Hospital, where Thomas spent six hours before being transferred to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. He died there fours days later. Mr Beardmore claims hospital authorities told him that his son died from meningococcal meningitis.

But he claims there was no medical evidence to support the cause of death.

"I don't believe my son had meningitis. When he died he was suffering from extensive brain damage, pneumonia and gangrene. I believe that it was brought on because of a catalogue of disasters including the fact that the hospitals were treating my son for something he didn't have."

Mr Beardmore has been fighting for an inquiry over 10 months. In the course of his campaign he has collected thousands of signatures in public support and the backing of local MPs.

He said: "The medical reports we have received have been full of errors. Some don't even agree on the day my son died. "Our solicitors suggested we sue the hospitals but that's just monetary gain. What we want is the truth. That truth would satisfy our own minds and hopefully ensure that no other parents go through what we have in the past year."

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