Zadie Ajetunmobi: Girl, 3, died after doctors missed her symptoms of sepsis

A grieving family is seeking long-awaited answers at an inquest into the death of their three-year-old daughter, who died after doctors failed to spot that she had sepsis.

Zadie Ajetunmobi was taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, in November 2022 with a high temperature but died ten hours later after a cardiac arrest.

Her devastated family were unaware she had died from sepsis until post-mortem results two months later showed she had the deadly infection. They now believe her death could have been avoided had she received the correct treatment at A&E.

Today, an inquest will examine the hospital’s sepsis treatment policies and any systemic failings in its treatment of Zadie.

Her parents, Theo and Rhiannon, have been left for more than two years agonising over what happened to their daughter.

‘She was a thriving, healthy child,’ her father said. ‘There was no mention of sepsis, so afterwards, we were left in limbo trying to deduce what happened.’

Zadie had initially been seen for a raised temperature and sore throat by an out-of-hours GP at Broomfield Hospital, who diagnosed her with tonsillitis and sent her home with antibiotics.

Three days later, Mrs Ajetunmobi took her back to A&E with a soaring temperature on the advice of 111.

But her father said doctors failed to administer antibiotics for more than seven hours after Zadie arrived at 10pm. She passed away at 7.42am.

Mr Ajetunmobi said the family received a ‘roots cause analysis investigation’ report in March 2023 in which Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust was said to have accepted that there had been a delay in administering antibiotics. The Trust also admitted failing to update its guidance on tackling sepsis — had this been done, Zadie would have triggered the sepsis treatment ‘pathway’ when she was assessed in A&E.

The family hopes to finally receive some clarity at the two-day inquest after their lawyers from Kingsley Napley successfully argued that it should be held.

Diane Sarkar, the Trust’s chief nursing and quality officer, said: ‘We took action to ensure better processes were in place.’