Girl, 4, died within days of fruitless A&E wait

A four-year-old girl died within days of leaving A&E after a fruitless six-hour wait to be seen by a doctor, an inquest has heard.

Makenna-Rose Thackray, from Rothwell in West Yorkshire, died on 20 December 2022, just two days after her family took her to the emergency department at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield when she started coughing up blood.

A jury inquest into her death on Monday was told she had been diagnosed with scarlet fever earlier that month, but antibiotics had failed to improve her condition.

In a statement read out in court, her father, Paul Thackray, said he believed there had been "missed opportunities" to save his daughter's life.

Makenna-Rose's mother, Danielle Ledger, said in her statement the couple were "unable to grieve" for her "until we have answers", adding that on the day she died "our lives ended too".

She described Makenna-Rose, who was the youngest of four sisters and attended Carlton Primary School in Rothwell, as "always happy and jolly" and someone who "lit up the room with her infectious smile".

The inquest, held at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was told that Makenna-Rose was diagnosed with scarlet fever, caused by the bacterial infection Strep A, on 9 December.

The disease causes a high fever and sore throat and can be dangerous in young children if left untreated.

There was a Strep A outbreak across the UK in late 2022, with pharmacists across the country reporting a widespread shortage of penicillin around that time.

In her statement, Miss Ledger said she went to four separate pharmacies in an effort to get penicillin without success and so she was prescribed a week's worth of alternative antibiotics for her daughter instead.

The jury was told that Makenna-Rose's condition did not improve, however, and on the evening of 18 December she was taken to Pinderfields Hospital by ambulance after she started coughing up blood.

It was said that after initial observations of the four-year-old by a nurse prompted "concern", the case was escalated to the on-call doctor.

Miss Ledger described her daughter as "poorly, lethargic and burning up" and said she got "hotter" as their wait in A&E continued.

In her statement, she added: "At around 23:30 GMT, we had been in hospital for over four hours and Makenna-Rose was still burning up and was exhausted. I asked the nurse how much longer the wait was, and she just apologised and said that there were other patients that needed to be seen before her.

"We waited a further two hours before giving up and going home around 01:30 GMT, having waited over six hours."

Miss Ledger said the nurses in the hospital "did not encourage me to stay" and that they "agreed it was a sensible decision" to take her home.

Miss Ledger said the family took Makenna-Rose to a GP appointment the following day, but the doctor diagnosed them collectively with flu and said he did not want to give her antibiotics.

The jury was told that on 20 December the young girl started struggling to breathe at home and blood was coming out of her mouth.

Paramedics attended the family home and took her to hospital, but she was pronounced dead later that day, just one month short of her 5th birthday.

In his statement, Mr Thackray said: "I am devastated by the loss of my daughter.

"There were missed opportunities to save my daughter and I would like those responsible to admit their failures and learn from these, so no family must go through what we have been through."

NHS witnesses who were involved in Makenna-Rose's care are expected to address the inquest, which is scheduled to last four days, when it resumes on Tuesday.

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