A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl was 30 minutes from death after doctors failed to spot meningitis three times.

Hannah Liddle is lucky to be alive - and her parents have issued a formal complaint about the hospital which turned her away.

For a month, Hannah's life hung in the balance after she was eventually admitted with the pneumococcal strain of the disease.

Her parents, Lynn and Darrin, both 36, spoke out to warn others about the dangers of failing to spot the disease. Lynn, who also has a son, Conner, five, said: "For more than a month our little girl's life hung in the balance."

Hannah's ordeal began when she arrived home from Oxclose School in Washington, Wearside, with a headache and stiff neck.

Lynn took her to their GP who advised to give her Calpol and make sure she rested.

When she failed to improve, Lynn and Darrin took her to the accident and emergency department at Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. They went twice but both times were told Hannah was not suffering meningitis.

Three days later her parents found her slumped at home, barely conscious and she was rushed to Newcastle General Hospital where meningitis was finally diagnosed.

Lynn said: "We were told she was 30 minutes from death when we got her to hospital and the next few days were hell.

"We cannot fault the staff at Newcastle at all but we feel the people at Gateshead should have diagnosed her sooner."

Dr Nicol Black, consultant in communicable diseases for Newcastle and North Tyneside, said: "The sooner a vaccine is more widely available, the better because, quite frankly, the pneumococcal form is difficult to recognise and its mortality rate is twice as high."