The heartbroken parents of a young girl who died from sepsis, after doctors sent her home with Calpol, have spoken out for the first time since their child's death.

Kessie Thomas, who was four-years-old at the time, was rushed to Darent Valley Hospital on April 9, 2017, with a spiking fever, a heartrate of 178bpm and suffering from seizures.

Her mum Marie, had grown particularly concerned with her daughter's symptoms as she had been born with a hole in her heart.

However, Kessie was discharged in the early hours of April 10 with just a dose of Calpol and some ibuprofen.

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Her condition worsened overnight and was taken straight back to A&E the following morning by her concerned mother but unfortunately suffered a cardiac arrest due to septicaemia, two hours after being readmitted.

Kessie tragically passed away on April 11 from severe brain damage after being transferred to Evelina Children's Hospital.

An inquest took place on November 21, 2018 at North West Kent Coroners court following Kessie's death.

Following legal action brought on behalf of the family by Simpson Millar’s medical law team, The Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust admitted that medical staff failed to follow official guidelines that would have identified Sepsis as a potential diagnosis and the cause of the seizures and high temperature.

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The Trust has since carried out a serious incident investigation into Kessie’s death and has outlined plans to further train medical staff in A&E and Paediatric areas on diagnosing and treating sepsis.

In a statement issued last week, the Trust said: "Losing a child at any time is tragic and we have looked in depth at the treatment Kessie received at the hospital in 2017.

"We acknowledge that we did not get it right for Kessie and have instituted several actions since to improve awareness, identification and treatment of sepsis.

"We would like to send again our condolences and apologies to Kessie’s parents."

Speaking after the serious incident investigation took place, mum Marie said:"There is every reason to believe that if Kessie had been kept in hospital for observations overnight she would still be with us today.

"Her condition would have been monitored, and the medical staff would have been on hand to treat the sepsis much sooner.

"We want the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust to share the lessons that they have learnt from their investigations with all Trust’s across the country so that no one need suffer the way we have in the future.

The call to action comes just days after NHS chiefs announced plans to roll out a new safety strategy that will ensure all staff, however junior, are trained to act if they spot risks, and that medical staff feel confident to report when errors are made in order to ensure that lessons can be learnt.