An inquest has opened into the death of a 12-year-old girl from Scotland who died after being treated at two North East hospitals.
Gemma Caffrey passed away at the Great North Children's Hospital in the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle on October 25 last year. The Daily Record previously reported how the youngster had become unwell while on holiday with her parents at Haggerston Castle in Northumberland and had suffered a brain haemorrhage.
A pre-inquest review was held into her death at Newcastle Coroner's Court on Monday morning. Gemma's parents Alison and Graeme Caffrey attended the hearing, which was sitting at Newcastle Civic Centre, by video link.
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Karen Dilks, Senior Coroner for Newcastle, told the hearing: "Gemma was 12 years old. She lived in Hamilton in Lanarkshire. The death was confirmed at the Great North Children's Hospital on the 25th October 2021."
The court heard how Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are interested parties as they were both involved in Gemma's care. Mrs Dilks said the inquest will need to look at Gemma's previous medical history and what happened between September 30 and her death last year.
She said the inquest would look at what happened before she attended Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care hospital in Cramlington, what they diagnosed and the care and treatment they provided in that hospital. The coroner said they would also look at her transfer to Newcastle and the treatment provided to her in that hospital.
She told the court: "We need to establish the medical cause of her death and the underlying Venous Sinus Thrombosis and whether her death could have been avoided." The inquest is expected to be held at the Coroner's Court on November 29 and November 30 this year.
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