Radiographer Wendy Egan told the hearing in Milton Keynes that when she registered her baby Thomas with the nursery in January 2002, she was reassured by the arrangements in place for caring for babies with allergies. She understood that Thomas' allergy would be written up on a board so that everyone who came into contact with him would know about it and that he would only be fed what she specified - baby rice mixed with breast milk, pureed fruit and pureed vegetables.
She said that on the day of his death, 11 April 2002, when he was five-and-a-half months old, Thomas had breakfast at home with her, as usual, before she dropped him off at the nursery soon after 9am along with some expressed milk for later on. Thomas had had a cold for the past three days but appeared to be better, and Mrs Egan gave him his inhaler before leaving him 'happy and bouncing around' and returning home. The inhaler had been prescribed after Thomas fell ill with bronchiolitis, a viral lung infection, during the winter.
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