Meningitis<\/a> is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord (meninges).<\/p>\nIt can affect anyone, but is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.<\/p>\n
Symptoms develop suddenly and can include a high temperature (fever), being sick, a headache, a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it (but a rash will not always develop) and a stiff neck.<\/p>\n
The inquest heard Zara came home from school on 19 December feeling unwell and began to vomit, which continued throughout the night into the following morning.<\/p>\n
Her parents rang 111 and were advised to attend A&E with Zara, who complained of achy limbs and a stiff neck and shoulders “so painful she couldn’t lift her arms”, the inquest heard.<\/p>\n
Zara was triaged and assessed by trainee advanced nurse practitioner Alexandra Spedding.<\/p>\n
In written testimony, she said there were “no immediate clinical concerns” and the vomiting was “likely viral”.<\/p>\n
As a trainee, all of her patients would be examined, she added, and, in Zara’s case, this was done by Dr Derek Huffadine, a registrar who later discharged her.<\/p>\n
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![\"Outside](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0bb4dbf0-8e52-11f0-b199-41ee52afc86b.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
The inquest is being heard at Nottingham Council House<\/p>\n
Giving evidence at the hearing, Dr Huffadine said: “I feel at that time it was difficult to say she had meningitis – it was in early form in terms of the presentation.<\/p>\n
“What I wish I could change was the communication – there should have been some written information.<\/p>\n
“I honestly did not think she had meningitis. I’m more careful about giving general guidance; if you don’t think your child is well or something has changed, come back.<\/p>\n
“If I thought she had meningitis, I would err on the side of caution and give antibiotics.”<\/p>\n
But he added her symptoms were a “typical presentation of someone who had a virus”.<\/p>\n
‘Made us feel guilty’<\/p>\n
The inquest heard Zara deteriorated further with a severe headache, a high temperature and was up in the night showing signs of confusion. <\/p>\n
Her parents again called 111, who asked EMAS to attend on 21 December.<\/p>\n
The inquest heard Zara’s parents thought two paramedics had attended, but they were later told they were ambulance technicians.<\/p>\n
The parents, in their statement, said the paramedics “ignored” the symptoms they told them about and “perceived” the callout was “less severe”.<\/p>\n
Zara’s parents also said one of the technicians “complained at length” about the 111 service and was “not focused on Zara”. <\/p>\n
They added one of the technicians “made us feel guilty” for calling 111 and decided she would not be admitted.<\/p>\n
“We believe they decided she had norovirus. We were asked about if she had a learning disability, which angers us,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
“If she was taken into hospital then, we believe she would have probably survived.”<\/p>\n
The inquest heard Zara collapsed at about 04:30 GMT on 22 December. She was described as “really limp” and was put in the recovery position before her parents called 999.<\/p>\n
A number of paramedics attended the family home and said she had “gone into respiratory arrest”. She was sedated and sent to the QMC under blue lights.<\/p>\n
Zara died the following day on 23 December.<\/p>\n
The inquest continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George TorrBBC News, East Midlands Family handout Zara Cheesman was described as “intelligent, kind and caring” The parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-145569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Family](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/eaade1b0-8e4f-11f0-b199-41ee52afc86b.jpg.webp.webp\")
Family handout<\/p>\n![\"LDRS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8ddab060-8e51-11f0-b199-41ee52afc86b.jpg.webp.webp\")
LDRS<\/p>\n