Dartford hospital admits failures at death of young girl at home

A hospital apologized for its failures after the death of a four-year-old girl.

Kessie Thomas was taken to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, with symptoms including high temperature and seizures, but was sent home.

His mother Marie Thomas said that there was "every reason" to believe that his daughter would have survived if she had been held at the hospital.

The hospital apologized and said that he "did not understand" for Kessie.

Kessie was taken to the hospital in April 2017 and the staff asked her to administer Calpol and ibuprofen to her mother.

Over the next 24 hours, her condition did not improve and she was taken back to the hospital, where she suffered a cardiac arrest caused by sepsis.

She was transferred to London for specialized care, but later died the same day after suffering severe brain damage.

"There is every reason to believe that if Kessie had been kept in the hospital for the night, she would still be with us today," said Ms. Thomas.

"We want the Dartford and the Gravesham NHS Trust to share the lessons learned from their investigations with all the trusts in the country, so that no one will suffer the same way as we will in the future."

The family filed a lawsuit against Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, which admitted that staff had not followed established guidelines that would have identified sepsis as a potential diagnosis.

In a statement, the trust sent her "condolences and apologies" to Kessie's parents.

"Losing a child at any time is tragic, we recognize that we have not done well for Kessie and have taken various steps since then to improve sepsis awareness, screening and treatment.

The trust announced that it had investigated Kessie's death and announced plans to train more medical staff in surgery and pediatrics.