AN inquest into the death of a young Redditch boy who died after being taken by ambulance to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, 19 miles away from his home, has been postponed.

Callum Cartlidge, aged eight, suffered a cardiac arrest and died on March 3.

His family lived just three minutes from the town's Alexandra Hospital but instead he was conveyed by ambulance to Worcester which took 23 minutes.

Previously a two-day hearing was due to take place at County Hall in Worcester on Thursday, December 7 but this has now been put back to Monday, April 30 2018.

It is now scheduled to last five days, without a jury, at Stourport Coroners Court, with Coroner David Donald William Reid.

A pre-inquest review is set to take place on Friday at 10am in County Hall, in Worcester.

Callum was taken to his GP on Tuesday, February 28 where he was diagnosed with tonsillitis and stomach ache.

On Thursday, March 2 he had low blood sugar and was taken to Worcestershire Royal but was discharged at 11pm.

The following afternoon he suffered a cardiac arrest and ambulance staff reportedly asked to go to Redditch but were instead sent all the way to Worcester.

They arrived in 23 minutes but Callum sadly died.

A post-mortem in June revealed he had Addisonian Crisis, a life-threatening illness, requiring immediate emergency treatment that can develop when Addison’s disease, where the body does not produce enough steroid hormones, is left undiagnosed.

It has been hospital policy to take seriously ill children in the county to Worcester since September last year and in July this year all inpatient children's services were permanently moved to the Royal.

Following his death, an investigation was launched by Worcestershire Acute Hospital NHS Trust.

The trust said it would not be able to comment until after the inquest.

Callum's funeral was held on March 28 and saw hundreds of mourners pack-out Redditch Crematorium, many wearing Chelsea football shirts with 'Callum' printed on the back with others carrying yellow roses.

A silent march in memory of Callum took place in Redditch town centre on April 29 with hundreds of people marching through the town to highlight controversial health care changes for Redditch and Bromsgrove families.