REPORTS of the inquest into the death of ten-year-old William Cressey have made heart-breaking reading this week.

William died from meningitis in March 2005 after he was discharged from Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Only now have full details been revealed about the inadequacies of the care he was given.

This has been a story of a mother desperately trying to make members of the medical profession listen – and feeling that her pleas were dismissed as those of an over-anxious parent.

Everyone makes mistakes and doctors and nurses are no exception. Mistakes in the medical profession can mean the difference between life and death and we do not underestimate that pressure.

But this case has underlined systematic failures which may have contributed to the death of a child.

He was not properly examined, he was not given the drugs that could have saved his life, and proper records were not kept.

As coroner David Mitford said during the inquest: “There is something horribly wrong here. Nobody was bothered to write anything down.”

Parents, who may find themselves in the same position as William Cressey’s family were on that night four years ago, need to know that procedures have improved.

They need to be reassured that members of the medical profession are not going to dismiss genuine fears – but listen and take no chances.

Our thoughts are with William’s family – and we hope that lessons have been learned which will prevent others from having to cope with a similar tragedy.