Hospital that dismissed schoolgirl with sepsis as ‘diva’ before she died fined just £1,250
Chloe Longster, 13, died in “unbearable pain” amid failings and delays in her care.
Chloe Longster died 18 hours after she was admitted to A&E (Image: Family handout/SWNS)
A mum has been left heartbroken after a hospital which dismissed her daughter as a “dramatic teen” before she died from sepsis was fined just £1,250. Chloe Longster, 13, died in “unbearable pain” amid failings and delays in her care at Kettering General Hospital.
The “fit and healthy, fun-loving teen” was admitted to A&E with pneumonia in November 2022, but died 18 hours later after developing the deadly infection. Mum, Louise Longster, said she repeatedly asked medics for help, but was treated like a “mum who had been on Google” while her daughter was dismissed as a “diva teen”.
Ms Longster said her daughter had been in so much pain she asked if she was going to die, adding: “It’s haunting that the 13-year-old was the one who was right.”
An inquest later found neglect had contributed to Chloe’s death after a catalogue of missed opportunities by medical staff, which could have saved her life.
Despite the coroner’s damning conclusion, the hospital has escaped with a “small fine” from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for failures to communicate appropriately with Chloe’s family.
Ms Longster, from Market Harborough, said she was devastated on learning there will be no further action over failings in her daughter’s care, adding the family had been left with “deep and unresolved concerns”.
She said: “The formal outcome is a small fine. It is heart-breaking to reconcile this with the seriousness of the acts and omissions in Chloe’s case, and with the scale of the investigation that followed.
“Chloe was taken from us when she should have been safe. She wasn’t.”
Chloe’s mum Louise Longster says her daughter should have been safe, but wasn’t (Image: Family handout/SWNS)
The grieving mum said after a two-year-long investigation by the CQC, the family was told there would be no prosecution because a threshold for evidence had not been met.
She said the family understood the decision related to the Trust’s failure to contact them until January 12, 2023, despite a serious incident being declared on December 8, 2022.
Ms Longster said: “There were serious incidents and omissions that those present would have been aware of at the time, and of the impact these could have on Chloe’s chance of survival.
“Yet these were not disclosed to us when they occurred. Instead, information emerged slowly over many months.
“Taken together with the wider evidence, this has left our family with deep and unresolved concerns about how events were handled.”
She added: “At the moment we needed honesty, compassion, and transparency most, we received none of these.
“Instead, details of Chloe’s care came out gradually, deepening our trauma and leaving us with unanswered questions.”
Chloe was dismissed as a ‘diva teen’ (Image: Family handout/SWNS)
Chloe’s mum said the family had been told statutory time limits would not be a factor, but they, in fact, expired on November 27, 2025, effectively closing off other legal avenues.
She said the family would otherwise have sought legal advice and considered judicial review.
Chloe had complained of cold and flu symptoms before she was taken to A&E.
Her mum said pain relief for her daughter was “delayed” and in her final hours she had been treated with “contempt.”
Assistant coroner Sophie Lomas said at the time of the inquest that Chloe might have survived if she had received appropriate treatment earlier.
She said: “There were several missed opportunities to recognise Chloe’s deteriorating condition.”
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s Deputy Director of Hospitals in the Midlands, said the £1,250 fine was “no way representative of the value of Chloe’s life”.
She said: “We continue to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of 13-year-old Chloe Longster, who sadly died while being cared for by Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at Kettering General Hospital in November 2022.
“CQC found after a detailed investigation that the trust had failed to carry out their duty to be open and transparent, and as a result we issued them with a fixed penalty notice on Friday, December 5.
“This was in response to a breach of Regulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which requires health and social care services to have a duty of candour and be open and transparent about people’s care.
“The trust has paid the fine and a banner informing people CQC has taken this action will remain on their page of CQC’s website for three months.
“The amount of this fixed penalty notice is in no way representative of the value of Chloe’s life, and is the amount that CQC is legally allowed to issue under these regulations. Any money paid in fines, is passed on to the Treasury by CQC.”
A spokesman for Kettering General Hospital said: “The Care Quality Commission (CQC) made the decision to issue a fixed penalty notice to Kettering General Hospital for failures to communicate appropriately with a family under the NHS’s duty of candour.
“We are deeply sorry for these failings and have looked closely at how we deliver information to families going forwards, making changes to try to ensure that duty of candour is delivered appropriately and in a timely way.”
After the coroner’s verdict in October 2024, Julie Hogg, Group Chief Nurse at the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, said the hospital “failed to offer Chloe the care she deserved”, admitting they “should have done more”.
She added they had “worked hard to make significant improvements”, including management of patients with sepsis and those who are not “getting better”.
Ms Hogg said: “We have also increased our staffing levels and improved the way we communicate with our patients and their families.
“We realise there is still more to do but we are committed to ensuring that every patient receives the best care.”
