Medics 'missed opportunities' to save six-year-old girl

Rachel Bradford said she has "cried a million tears" since Coco's death

The mother of a six-year-old girl who died from sepsis has accused medics of missing opportunities to save her.

Rachel Bradford told an inquest how she watched her daughter Coco Rose Bradford die in front of her on 31 July 2017.

She accused medical staff at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (RCH) of failing Coco, even though her daughter was in "glaringly obvious" pain.

The trust has previously offered an unreserved apology for failings in the girl's care.

Mrs Bradford told senior Cornwall coroner Andrew Cox that the family were treated with the "utmost contempt".

She said: "There were multiple opportunities to change the course of her treatment which would have saved her life."

Coco Bradford was described by her family as "beautiful, brave and strong"

She tearfully told the hearing in Truro there was nothing she could do to save her.

"She was my absolute world. I have cried every day since," she said.

Coco, who was autistic, was sent home from the hospital near Truro on 25 July 2017 because doctors failed to spot how seriously ill she was.

She was admitted to a paediatric ward on 26 July after being taken into the RCH's emergency department for a second time.

Coco was transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital on 28 July but died three days later from multi-organ failure and E. coli.

Coco Rose Bradford's temperature reached 39.2C during her illness

Mrs Bradford said that, while in the Cornish hospital, she believed staff "thought that we were over-reacting and being over-protective" as her daughter's temperature reached 39.2C (102.5F).

She said one doctor was "dismissive, rude and arrogant" and there was "an air of nonchalance" around any treatment.

She said her husband Luke was getting angry with staff and added: "Coco was in so much pain, it was glaringly obvious. "

Mrs Bradford said medics claimed Coco was "non-compliant and uncooperative".

She dismissed that, saying: "She was neither. They upset her and were hurting her. She was dying in front of our eyes."

A highly critical independent report previously concluded Coco died after staff missed several chances to save her life.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust accepted there were a series of failures and apologised unreservedly.

The inquest, expected to last two weeks, continues.

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