Baby dies from pneumonia after doctors at hospital found nothing wrong with her

A baby aged 13 months died of pneumonia within a week of being discharged from a hospital where doctors said there was "nothing seriously wrong" with her.

Alisha Leonie was taken to the Medway Maritime Hospital, in Kent, by her parents, after her temperature soared, only to be discharged by doctors.

Within four days, Alisha had turned yellow and was taken back to the same hospital by ambulance. After her condition deteriorated, she was X-rayed and underwent blood tests before being transferred to Guy's Hospital in London, where she died of pneumonia and kidney failure the following day, less than a week after she was first sent away by doctors.

Her parents, Phillip Moorcroft and Kerry Anne-Gregory, who live in Chatham, Kent, are now suing the hospital.

Mr Moorcroft 35, said of Alisha's first visit to the hospital in Kent: "The doctors said she just had a temperature and she was discharged the next day with a course of over-the-counter medicine to lower her temperature ... If they had done those tests sooner, Alisha might still be here."

The hospital said the incident was under investigation and the findings would be shared with the family.

In a separate incident, a 94-year-old woman was left unwashed and caked in blood for almost three days in the Accident and Emergency department of Whittington Hospital, North London, apparently because staff were unable to find a free bed.

Rose Addis was left in the casualty department for 72 hours, after gashing her head in a fall at home on 13 January.

Her family are said to be furious about the "horrific" treatment received by the pensioner but staff at the hospital claim Mrs Addis refused offers to wash or change, and still had blood in her hair due to the nature of her injuries.