A five-year-old girl was sent home by three doctors in two days before dying of meningitis, an inquest has heard. Experts told the hearing that her symptoms suggested meningitis but the GPs all thought her illness was not serious.
Doctors dismissed her symptoms, prescribing Ellie-Jo Ellesmere Dioralyte tablets to treat dehydration, before she suffered a fit at her home in Great Sutton, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
he was rushed to hospital in Chester, but died the next day at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.
Worried mother Joanne Ellesmere, 27, was concerned when her eldest daughter refused food and drink and slept through the day after a short bout of cold.
She complained of neck pain when it was moved and became disorientated.
But despite the warning signs, one doctor told her 'it's clearly not meningitis' and another concluded she only had gastroenteritis, not the much more dangerous meningoencephalitis that killed her.
At an inquest in Chester all three GPs defended their actions. But senior doctors told the hearing that the girl's symptoms suggested meningitis.
Single mother Miss Ellesmere, a full-time carer, told the court Ellie-Jo had two days off from school the week before with a cold.
She said: 'Then she was getting better. We went into town on the Sunday morning. We came home about 1pm on Sunday and she fell asleep. That was all she did for the next couple of days.
'I thought it was just the back end of a cold. I woke her up on Sunday afternoon and she complained of a sore neck, started vomiting and complained of a headache at the front of her head, but that went away.'
Miss Ellesmere booked an appointment with Dr Mark Edney at Great Sutton Medical Practice the following morning. After checking her over, he prescribed Dioralyte - commonly used to treat diarrhoea - and asked Miss Ellesmere to make sure Ellie-Jo drank plenty of fluids.
When Ellie-Jo vomited twice after taking the Dioralyte, she was taken back to the doctors at about 4pm the same day, this time seeing Dr Judge.
Miss Ellesmere said: 'Dr Judge told her to bend down and touch her toes, but she kept her head at a 45 degree angle.
'Then Dr Judge said "it's clearly not meningitis", which obviously, as a parent, I was relieved about.' Read More
