Inquest to be held on Shropshire girl in swine flu error

An inquest is to be held on a Shropshire teenager who died after being wrongly diagnosed with swine flu.

Officials today said their investigations into the death of Charlotte Hartey, 16, had identified improvements had to be made. Charlotte, from Bronygarth near Oswestry, died in July last year from complications arising from tonsillitis.

Her father, Karl, said today that an 86-page report by Shropshire's Primary Care Trust had helped to persuade the coroner to hold the inquest, which will take place in Shrewsbury on November 3 and 4.

Mr Hartey said the report pointed to serious problems.

"It was a catalogue of errors from start to finish," he said.

Charlotte died on July 31 last year, three days after being admitted into the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. She'd been diagnosed over the phone with having swine flu and was given the Tamiflu drug. She failed to respond and her condition worsened.

Doctors at the hospital later said she had tonsillitis and she went on to develop blood poisoning. A post mortem was carried out, which concluded Charlotte died from natural causes, meaning there was no inquest.

Mr Hartey said: "We said from the outset that there was nothing natural about Charlotte's death."

A petition was signed by thousands of people. Mr Hartey said it helped persuade Shropshire Primary Care Trust to hold a "root cause analysis" into the death.

Julie Thornby, from the PCT, said: "In this case, the investigation has identified systems that need improvement and the PCT has been working with the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and local GPs to ensure that the recommendations have been implemented."

By Sue Austin