Doctors have defended the treatment of a baby girl who died of heart failure at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Hayley Fullerton was aged just 13 months when she died in November 2009 – three weeks after undergoing corrective heart surgery.

Her mother Paula Stevenson, 40, claims family members begged hospital staff to re-admit her daughter to intensive care as her condition deteriorated over a number of days.

But doctors said the treatment plan administered had been correct, when they gave evidence at a Birmingham inquest.

Consultant paediatric cardiologist Dr Oliver Stumper said that Hayley did not meet the criteria for readmission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

“On November 10 she had all the care she needed,” he said. “At that time she did not fulfil the criteria for ICU admission. Hayley improved significantly on November 10.

“PICU would have agreed oxygen and physiotherapy would have a good chance of improving her clinical condition, which in fact it did.”

Dr Adrian Plunkett, an intensive care consultant, battled for 20 minutes to resuscitate the infant before her death on November 11.

He told the hearing there was no response from her heart and said even if she had been in PICU, a different outcome would have been unlikely.

The inquest previously heard how desperate mum Paula, originally from Northern Ireland but now living in Australia, had given a nurse a £100 gift voucher in the hope staff would listen to concerns over Hayley’s treatment and condition.

She said: “I know it was a desperate thing to do, but I was desperate and no-one was listening to me.”

In a statement read at the inquest on Monday, Hayley’s grandmother Sylvia Stevenson said Dr Stumper had “barked” at her when she asked about her grandchild’s care on November 10.

The statement from Mrs Stevenson, who has since died, said: “My daughter said I looked like a parent from a Third World country, begging for my child’s life.”

(Proceeding)