Family take legal action over daughter’s misdiagnosis

The family of a child who suffered severe brain damage after doctors failed to diagnose her meningitis has launched legal action against a negligent hospital trust.

Five-year-old Essex toddler Ellie Sutton was referred to Colchester Hospital's paediatric unit when she was just eight-months-old, after the family's GP suspected she was suffering from meningitis.

But a medical student within the hospital dismissed her in less than an hour despite the fact Ellie was recording an alarmingly high temperature. At 39.9C, Ellie's temperature was higher than the hospital's own guidelines of 38C, which stipulate that she should have been kept in for monitoring.

Later that same evening, Ellie's mother took her back to the hospital demanding that her condition be investigated further, but a medical review was not conducted for 11 hours.

The delays left Ellie with life-long brain damage and in need of constant care, her solicitors claimed. Had her illness been diagnosed swiftly there would be every chance that the Sutton family's daughter would have been okay.

''Ever since the illness Ellie has had some mobility problems due to weakness and sensory impairment in her right side, and she also now suffers from severe learning difficulties, limited speech and behavioural problems," said her mother, Sarah Gill.

''What is most upsetting is that Ellie's injuries could easily have been avoided, if only the hospital had followed its own guidelines and given Ellie a better standard of care."

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust has since admitted liability for Ellie's condition and a care package is currently being negotiated with her legal team, which could exceed six-figures.