Makenna-Rose Thackray died after an unnecessary wait at A&E, inquest heard

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

Makenna-Rose Thackray, from Rothwell in West Yorkshire, died on December 20, 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 grand 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 to the 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 that the couple could not grieve for her “until we have answers”, adding that 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 cheerful” and someone who “lighted up the room with her contagious smile “.

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

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

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

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

It said that after initial observations of the four-year-old by a nurse which raised “concern”, the case was referred to the doctor on call.

Miss Ledger described her daughter as “silly, lethargic and on fire” and said she became “hotter” as their wait at 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 and exhausted. I asked the nurse how long the wait was and she just apologized and said there were other patients that needed to be seen before her.

“I waited another two hours before giving up and going home around 01:30 GMT after waiting over six hours.”

Miss Ledger said nurses at the hospital “didn’t encourage me to stay” and they “agreed it was a sensible decision” to take her home.

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

The jury was told that on December 20, the young woman began struggling to breathe at home and blood was coming from her mouth.

Paramedics visited the family home and took her to hospital, but she was pronounced dead later that day, just a month before 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 wish those responsible would own up to their failures and learn from them so no family has to go through what we went 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.