{"id":775738,"date":"2026-09-19T11:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T11:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775738\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T11:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T11:54:11","slug":"mum-said-derbyshire-ae-visit-was-waste-of-time-hours-before-she-died-aged-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775738\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum said Derbyshire A&E visit was ‘waste of time’ hours before she died aged 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tanya McCartney has been described as ‘beautiful, funny, and loving’Ben Lyons<\/a> Content Editor and Nathan Pynn, SWNS<\/p>\n

07:56, 19 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

\"Tanya<\/p>\n

Tanya McCartney has died at the age of 25(Image: Courtesy Slater & Gordon \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

A coroner has slammed NHS<\/a> staff for failing to prevent the death of a “loving” young mum who died hours after she told family<\/a> her Derbyshire hospital visit was a “waste of time”.<\/p>\n

Tanya McCartney, 25, attended A&E at Chesterfield<\/a> Royal Infirmary with a high temperature, shortness of breath and a painful throat.<\/p>\n

She initially believed she had caught a cold from her 11-month-old son Marcus, but her GP had advised her to go to hospital in Calow.<\/p>\n

But staff at the Chesterfield Road hospital failed to diagnose pneumonia, which could have been treated with a course of intravenous antibiotics.<\/p>\n

Instead, medics sent the trainee mental health<\/a> nurse home with oral antibiotics on May 18, 2023.<\/p>\n

When she was home, Tanya complained to her mum, Natasha, about her treatment saying it was “a waste of time”.<\/p>\n

Tanya’s health continued to deteriorate and the next day she collapsed on her sofa and despite desperate attempts by paramedics to resuscitate her, she died.<\/p>\n

\"Tanya<\/p>\n

Tanya McCartney with baby Marcus(Image: Courtesy Slater & Gordon \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

At her inquest this week, Assistant Coroner for Derby and Derbyshire Anita Davies slammed medical staff saying her death should have been prevented.<\/p>\n

In her narrative verdict, she said: “Had Tanya been admitted on the 18 May and given appropriate intravenous antibiotics it is more likely than not that she would have survived.<\/p>\n

“The decision not to admit Tanya to hospital on the evening of the 18 May, but rather to offer her a choice between admission or return home, contributed to the death.”<\/p>\n

The hearing at Chesterfield Coroners’ Court found that Tanya had a very high heart rate and soaring temperature when she was given the option of being discharged.<\/p>\n

Ms Davies told the inquest: “Three hours before discharge her vital signs had been significantly outside of normal range and merited further monitoring and investigation.<\/p>\n

“Given the clinical picture the Trust accepts that Tanya should have been admitted for further observations and intravenous antibiotics.<\/p>\n

“The Trust accepts that had she been admitted and given intravenous antibiotics, on the balance of probabilities she would have survived.”<\/p>\n

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has since apologised to Tanya’s family.<\/p>\n

The Trust admitted that if she had been received antibiotics intravenously “Tanya would have, in all probability, made a recovery”.<\/p>\n

‘We hope Tanya’s death and the lessons identified have led to meaningful change’<\/p>\n

Tanya’s heartbroken mum Natasha, who now cares from her grandson Marcus, now four, said: “She is missed more than I can ever describe.<\/p>\n

“Every day Marcus asks questions about his mummy. One day he will want to understand what happened to her.<\/p>\n

“We owed it to him, and to Tanya, to keep fighting until the truth came out.<\/p>\n

\"Tanya<\/p>\n

Another photo of Tanya McCartney with baby Marcus(Image: Courtesy Slater & Gordon \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

“We welcome the verdict, which finally puts into official words what our family has known since the terrible day Tanya was taken from us. Getting to this point has been an exhausting, painful battle.<\/p>\n

“From the beginning, our family struggled to understand how Tanya could go to hospital desperately unwell and then die the very next day.<\/p>\n

“We have waited a long time to find out the truth about what happened and why she died.<\/p>\n

“While the hospital has accepted that, had Tanya been admitted for antibiotic treatment she would probably have survived, hearing that is devastating.<\/p>\n

“Listening to the coroner formally acknowledge the failures in Tanya’s care brings us some closure, but it does not lessen the absolute heartbreak we live with every single day.<\/p>\n

“Tanya was only 25 years old. She was beautiful, funny, a loving daughter, sister and granddaughter but, above all, she was an incredible mum, who lived for her little boy.<\/p>\n

“Marcus has now spent most of his life without his mother and asks why his mummy is in heaven and that is something we will never come to terms with.<\/p>\n

“We can only hope that the Trust takes the coroner’s words to heart so that no other mother has to know their child’s death was entirely preventable.<\/p>\n

“We hope Tanya’s death and the lessons identified have led to meaningful change to help ensure that no other family experiences the pain and heartbreak that we have endured.”<\/p>\n

The family’s solicitor, Rebecca Dowse, from Slater and Gordon, said: “The inquest’s narrative verdict, which acknowledged the Trust’s admission that discharging Tanya was inappropriate, is a stark reminder of the tragic consequences of incorrect clinical decision-making.<\/p>\n

“We now know it was not just inappropriate to discharge Tanya; it was a fatal error that the Trust has been forced to account for.”<\/p>\n

Since Tanya’s death, the Trust has introduced several changes including better oversight of higher-risk patients and introduced an electronic patient record system.<\/p>\n

Kevin Sargen, medical director for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We send our sincere condolences to Ms McCartney’s family and loved ones.<\/p>\n

“We acknowledge that the care she received was not the standard that we strive for.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tanya McCartney has been described as ‘beautiful, funny, and loving’Ben Lyons Content Editor and Nathan Pynn, SWNS 07:56,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[102970,1343,59,102,12178,104,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-775738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-chesterfield","tag-courts","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-inquests","tag-nhs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}