A four-year-old girl died hours after being sent home from Chesterfield Royal Hospital when her routine operation was cancelled, an inquest has heard. Gracie Foster, from Old Whittington, Derbyshire, had gone to the hospital to have her tonsils removed in October 2015 but fell sick on the ward.
Her mother, Michelle Foster, told Chesterfield Coroners' Court that a consultant paediatrician sent her home, believing she had a viral infection. Gracie had seemed well in the days before her operation, with Ms Foster saying her daughter was 'excited' to be missing school and going to her grandmother's house after the operation.
On the morning of 21 October 2015, Gracie was initially happy on arrival at the hospital. However, Ms Foster heard her daughter 'cry out suddenly' from the play room. When she went to see Gracie, she complained of a sore throat and was taken to her bed. After being given pre-medication ahead of the operation, she vomited, and a nurse found her temperature to be 40.1C.
Ms Foster said her daughter was left alone for 90 minutes before being seen by Dr Tim Ubhi, who she said only checked her tonsils and said she was suffering from a viral infection. Despite Gracie seeming 'floppy' and needing to be carried out of the hospital, Ms Foster took her to her grandmother's home in nearby Dronfield. 'I had full trust in what the doctor was saying, even though he didn't do anything,' she said. 'When I carried her away from hospital I thought she must be alright, but I took her away to die.'
Susan Rayner, the grandmother, said Gracie 'wasn't her normal joyous self' and 'very mardy' when she arrived. When Gracie's condition deteriorated and she could not take medicine at about 18:45, Ms Rayner got in touch with Ms Foster and Gracie's father, who met at Sheffield Children's Hospital. Soon after arrival, Gracie became 'absolutely covered in a purple rash'. A post-mortem report found the cause of death to be Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, meningococcaemia, and neissera meningitidis infection.
The court heard that Gracie's school had sent out a letter three weeks earlier about a boy who had been admitted to hospital with meningitis, but Ms Foster said the boy was in a different class and had little contact with her daughter.
