THE mother of a boy who died after medical staff failed to spot the symptoms of meningitis has received damages and an apology from the hospital, The Northern Echo can reveal.

In 2005, despite his mother’s pleas that he was suffering from the deadly disease, William Cressey was discharged from Darlington Memorial Hospital and died a few hours later.

The hospital has now apologised to William’s mother, Cheryl, and paid her undisclosed damages.

She has also submitted an official complaint about the staff involved in William’s treatment to the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Ten-year-old William, from Hurworth Place, near Darlington, was admitted to Darlington Memorial Hospital with suspected meningitis in February 2005.

However, the Croft Primary School pupil was not given antibiotics and was discharged the next day.

Mrs Cressey took him back to the hospital a couple of hours later after his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was slipping in and out of consciousness and having multiple seizures.

He was still not given antibiotics until much later that night, by which time it was too late.

At an inquest into William’s death last year, Newcastle coroner David Mitford described the actions of nurses who were supposed to monitor and record the youngster’s condition as “startlingly inadequate”.

He also said the involvement of the first doctor who discharged William was marginal and unsatisfactory and the senior consultant who ruled against giving William antibiotics when he was readmitted “missed a clear opportunity”.

Mrs Cressey has received a written apology from the hospital and an out-of-court settlement.

Mrs Cressey said: “This isn’t about the money – it’s never been about the money.

“Without the apology it was worthless. I wanted the acknowledgement in full.”

Her solicitor, Kris Inskip, said: “This is a truly tragic case where crucial time was lost due to the hospital’s failure to diagnose William’s meningitis.

We are, of course, pleased to have secured compensation for William’s death, but that is outweighed by the sympathy we feel for Mrs Cressey and the loss she has suffered.”

Mrs Cressey, who has moved to Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, is now seeking to pursue the case against the individuals involved in William’s death through the GMC and the NMC.

She said: “I will not stop until they have been properly held to account. Nothing has happened to any one of those involved. Having them held to account has always been what this is about, establishing that they were wrong. It’s about justice for my boy.”

Mrs Cressey has also called for legal aid to be made available to people involved in inquests.

She said: “It’s just you with your back against the wall – there’s an awful lot of people and it’s very frightening.

“I was lucky as my solicitors acted on a no win, no fee basis and I didn’t have costs to pay out. But you are at your lowest. After the inquest I literally couldn’t stand up.

“People should have legal representation.”

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: “Following the inquest and completion of the legal process, the trust wrote to apologise to Mrs Cressey that William did not receive our usual high standard of care. It is not the trust’s policy to comment in detail on any individual case.

“However, rare events such as these do give rise to full and detailed consideration by the trust of its policies and procedures and are used as a learning tool to improve standards of care. The trust extends its full sympathy to Mrs Cressey and to her family for their loss.”