HEALTH chiefs last night said they were “deeply sorry” after it took 15 hours to diagnose meningitis in an Oxford mother who later died from the illness.

Shazia Ahmed, from Falcon Close, Blackbird Leys, died in February at the John Radcliffe Hospital, five days after contracting the disease.

The 25-year-old and her family called out-of-hours doctors twice before she was eventually taken to the JR in an attempt to get help.

Last night, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust (ORH) admitted earlier diagnosis may have led to a different outcome.

Shazia’s mother Lorraine Lewis, who cares for Ms Ahmed’s six-year-old son Kaishaan, has been fighting to get the two trusts to admit to a catalogue of errors, which she believes led to her daughter’s death.

She said: “Shazia called two out-of-hours doctors and explained her symptoms to them, the first at 7pm the second at 2am.

“Both refused to come out to see her. The first told her she probably had some sort of virus and the second just left an anti-sickness tablet on reception .

“When we went to pick it up, he didn’t even come out and check her.”

When her daughter’s condition became worse, Ms Lewis took her to the JR’s accident and emergency ward.

She said her daughter, who was covered in a black/purple rash, was vomiting and had extreme diarrhoea, was left without a bed pan and had to be sick in a sink.

Ms Lewis claims she then had to carry her screaming daughter to a second cubicle when she was moved after being told to “keep it down and stay still on the bed” by a nurse.

She said: “When we got there I overheard a doctor outside the cubicle asking a consultant if he thought it could be meningitis? He just said ‘no, it won’t be that’.

“He didn’t even take five steps into the cubicle to look at my daughter. Then from 5.30-9.40am, they just left her and we mopped up her vomit and diarrhoea.”

At 9.40am, Ms Ahmed was taken to the Intensive Care Unit and meningitis was diagnosed, but after several hours she had to be placed into a coma as she was not responding to treatment.

Four days later she suffered a brain haemorrhage and had to be placed on life support.

Ms Lewis said: “The last time I spoke to Shazia was just before they put her into a coma.

“I said to her ‘I love you baby’ and she said to me ‘I love you even more’ and that was the last thing we said to each other.”

Last night, the two trusts said they were “deeply sorry” for the distress caused to Ms Ahemd’s family.

“It is possible that an earlier diagnosis may have had a different outcome, but it is impossible to say what this might have been in Shazia’s case.”

Ms Lewis said: “We have supposedly got one of the best hospitals in the country, but what we got was a shoddy service which probably killed my daughter.

“Sorry is just a word. They should have been doing their job.

“But they weren’t and now my daughter is gone and my grandson hasn’t got his mummy anymore.”

Ms Lewis’s solicitors are now dealing with incident.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk

What the PCT said: "WE are deeply sorry for the distress which Shazia’s family are experiencing following her tragic death.

‘Both organisations involved in her care have undertaken a detailed and joint investigation of the incidents involved, in order to find out what happened, to see whether things need to be done differently in the future, and to identify any learning points for the individual clinicians concerned.

‘Shazia and her mother had been in contact with the emergency department at the John Radcliffe Hospital and the out-of-hours services provided by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust on the day she fell ill.

‘Both organisations accept that there were points during her care where the severity of her symptoms were not recognised as being suggestive of meningitis.

‘Meningitis is a devastating disease which can appear in many different forms and which can look like other conditions.

‘In Shazia’s case, it was also extremely aggressive.

‘It is possible that an earlier diagnosis may have had a different outcome, but it is impossible to say what this might have been in Shazia’s case.

‘Doctors and nurses from both organisations met together with Lorraine Lewis, Shazia’s mother, and explained the process and findings of the investigation so far.

‘Both organisations wish to apologise to Lorraine Lewis and her family for any shortcomings in the course of Shazia’s care and treatment.

‘While we recognise that this may be of little comfort to Shazia’s family and friends, we have already learned a lot from this incident and changed a number of our systems and processes as a result."