Sophie Ward was rushed to A&E after showing symptoms of meningitis at university, but she was turned away – and the 20-year-old tragically died hours later, it’s been revealed
The parents of a student, 20, who died after contracting meningitis B at university have demanded more action to protect young people from the deadly infection.
Sophie Ward, 20, died with “blood oozing from her eyes” hours after she was misdiagnosed with the flu at an A&E department then discharged. The 20-year-old and her mum had rushed to A&E at Barnet Hospital on the advice of 111 and told medics Sophie’s symptoms fitted those of meningitis.
At 2am the next morning she was “violently sick” as her temperature soared to 39.4C, so she was rushed back to hospital but it was too late to save her – Sophie died around 12 hours later, on July 31, 2023. Sophie’s dad said the “government needs to step up” amid an outbreak in Kent which killed two students last week.
Juliette Kenny, an 18-year-old sixth form student, tragically died on Saturday March 14 after contracting the deadly infection. A 21-year-old student from the University of Kent also died amid the outbreak linked to the Club Chemistry nightclub, in Canterbury.
Sophie, an artist from London, tragically died less than 24 hours after she started to show symptoms. When Sophie’s condition deteriorated after coming home her mother, Alice, frantically dialled 999 and an ambulance arrived within 15 minutes, racing Sophie to resuscitation while “blood seemed to ooze from her eyes”, an inquest into her death heard.
Nearly three years after Sophie’s death, her father Paul Ward said he did not realise his daughter wasn’t fully protected from meningitis because she had the jabs for A, C, W and Y strains as a teen. The menB jab was introduced on the NHS for babies in 2015, meaning the majority of young people born before then are not protected against it unless they have had the jab privately.
Mr Ward, speaking to the Daily Mail, said: “Young people and their parents don’t realise they aren’t protected against meningitis B. The government has allowed that state of affairs to persist.
“They so far haven’t done anything to inform people that they aren’t protected against meningitis. The government needs to step up – even if they don’t make meningitis B what’s called a scheduled vaccine, they could do something in between.”
Just days before the Kent outbreak started, Mr Ward had appeared on ITV News to call for more young people to get the menB jab. He said: “Sophie should be alive, and if she had had the vaccine for menB she would be alive. This devastation – it doesn’t have to happen.”
An inquest, last year, into Sophie’s death heard how the Wimbledon College of Art student was seen two hours later which, retrospectively, should have been 15 minutes when she was first admitted to A&E. Mum Alice told proceedings: “Sophie was a young women, almost 21-years-old…she was dearly loved and gave and received so much joy to her family who knew her so well.
“She was admired by all for her tenderness, her sincerity, her kindness, and her beauty. As a young woman at age of 16 she became adventurous and outgoing, with a wide circle of friends whose company she cherished.” She added: “Her death was preventable and tragic, pain and sorrow that cannot be softened. She was loved and no good comes from her death, but change must come about in hospital diagnoses and protocols.”
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