An 11-year-old from Addiscombe died while in the care of Croydon University Hospital in 2020 after a delay in giving her drugs and 10 other issues with her care, according to a report from Croydon Health Services NHS Trust.
She had also been experiencing dizziness, vomiting, confusion and a high temperature.
It took almost seven hours after she was admitted before Annie was given antibiotics.
The trust’s report found that if she had been screened correctly for sepsis she would have started receiving intravenous antibiotics within the hour.
Just over an hour after she was given the drugs, Annie suffered a cardiac arrest.
She was resuscitated and transferred to another hospital, where she died the following day.
Let down: Annie Luffingham was just 11 when she died
“There are very good protocols that hospitals should be following,” said her mother, Tracey Shephard. “If they don’t follow those protocols, then this could easily happen to somebody else.”
Shephard said: “Annie was the most wonderful daughter we could have ever wished for.
“Our lives will never be the same without her. It’s devastating that she’ll never grow up and fulfil the potential she had.”
An inquest in 2021 concluded that her death from sepsis caused by meningitis was as a result of natural causes contributed to by neglect.
“When Annie needed help she was badly let down,” said her father, David Luffingham.
The parents have spoken out after they secured an undisclosed settlement from Croydon Health Services NHS Trust.
The trust has admitted liability for Annie’s death and apologised to the couple.
A spokesperson for the trust said that they “implemented a number of changes” after an internal review which included “additional clinical training for staff on the management of sepsis and meningitis”.
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