Dad and mom really feel ‘uncooked’ after little woman died when medics failed to identify meningitis

Her mother and father Tracey Shephard, 51, and David Luffingham, 56, took Annie, identified, to the kids’s Accident and Emergency division at Croydon University Hospital.

Dad David, from Addiscombe, Croydon, stated: “We thought the best place for her would be in hospital, as we thought she would receive what care she needed to recover.”

It was the morning of February 11, 2020, and the household had been in hospital as Annie suffered a excessive temperature, eye ache and a headache.

Annie additionally felt dizzy, confused and felt sick, however workers incorrectly accomplished a screening software for sepsis, which resulted in a prolonged wait within the emergency division.

An NHS report stated if checks had been accomplished appropriately, Annie would have been transferred to a specialist paediatric workforce and obtained intravenous antibiotics inside an hour.

Instead, Annie – who was first taken to hospital at 10am did not obtain antibiotics for six-and-a-half hours – till 4.30pm that afternoon.

Soon after, at 5.50pm, Annie had a cardiac arrest and, whereas resuscitated and transferred to a different hospital, she died the following day.

Following her loss of life, a Root Cause Analysis Investigation Report by Croydon Health Services NHS Trust recognized 11 issues in Annie’s care.

In a letter to the bereaved mother and father, the Trust wrote: “The treatment provided to Annalise by the Trust fell below the standard of care she was entitled to expect.

“There had been failures to recognise the severity of Annalise’s sickness leading to delays in offering applicable therapy.”

The Trust expressed “very actual remorse” that “alternatives had been missed to stop her loss of life”.

Distraught about the loss of her daughter, Tracey said: “Even greater than three years on the damage and ache we really feel over her loss of life remains to be as uncooked because it was the day she died.

“Our lives will never be the same without her. It’s devastating that she’ll never grow up and fulfil the potential she had.”

Meningitis

The NHS explains” “Meningitis is an an infection of the protecting membranes that encompass the mind and spinal twine (meninges).”

If not treated quickly, it can lead to blood poisoning (sepsis) and can result in permanent damage to the brain.

Symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly and can include:

• A high temperature (fever)
• Being sick
• A headache
• A rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it (but a rash will not always develop)
• A stiff neck
• A dislike of bright lights
• Drowsiness or unresponsiveness
• Seizures (fits)

“These signs can seem in any order. You don’t all the time get all of the signs,” the well being physique provides.