A health minister promised to tighten the system for giving medicines to children in the light of the case of Lexie McConnell, who died after being given steroids.

John Hutton said the Government was seeking to improve the licensing and testing of medicines on youngsters. He was speaking during a debate on the need to monitor the side effects of prescribed drugs on children.

Lexie, nine, of East St Helen Street, Abingdon, died from chickenpox in the John Radcliffe Hospital after she was prescribed drugs for an eye infection in 1992. The Commons debate heard that 25 per cent of all drugs given to children in hospitals were only licensed for adults and 36 per cent of children received unlicensed drugs.

Lexie's parents, Art and Victoria McConnell, were in the Commons last night to hear the debate. They have campaigned for a stronger regulatory system for children and want a public inquiry into their daughter's death. They are suing Oxfordshire Health Authority for negligence in the High Court.

Story date: Tuesday 20 April

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