A young woman who died at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary was found screaming in pain on the floor of her hospital cubicle - yet still her family's calls for a crucial scan were denied.

It was later discovered Tessa Harker, 21, of East End, Wigton, was suffering from a stomach ulcer.

By the time it was detected, the ulcer had burst. She underwent surgery, but died soon after.

Giving evidence at an inquest into her death, fiance Robert Powley described how she spent her final few days in agony, having initially been told it was a bug and sent home from hospital twice.

He said that they repeatedly asked for tests to find out what was wrong, but were accused of overreacting by hospital staff.

Miss Harker, who grew up in the Maryport area, died at the city hospital on March 6 last year, six days after she first took ill.

An inquest into her death began in Cockermouth yesterday.

Miss Harker lived with her fiance in Wigton and was working at a care home in Goschen Road, Carlisle.

Mr Powley said she occasionally suffered from stomach pains, but had previously battled with eating disorders and they thought it was linked to that. However this time it was more severe.

She first took ill on Wednesday, March 1, when she was sent home from work with stomach pains.

Mr Powley said she was seen by both A&E and Cumbria Health on Call (CHOC) staff at the infirmary later that day.

She was told it could be a bug and sent home. However, he said she later started vomiting and was up all night with the pain.

The next day they called her GP, in Wigton, who agreed it could be a bug, but admitted her to hospital for tests and monitoring.

Mr Powley drove her to A&E and waited with her, describing how she was doubled over in pain and being sick.

She was admitted to a ward overnight, but was again sent home the next morning with anti-sickness medication.

He said as soon as they got home she started to throw up again. By that evening she was again in extreme pain, so Mr Powley and her mum Valerie took the decision to phone for an ambulance.

It was going to take too long, so he drove her in. He said staff thought it was gastroenteritis, but an X-ray was taken as a precaution.

At midnight she was transferred to Beech C and the registrar on duty said they would carry out a CT scan the following day.

The next day he rang the ward, but was told there would be no scan.

He and her mum visited a few hours later. Mr Powley said he found her in a single-bedded room, covered in vomit.

"She was on all fours on the floor, screaming in pain," he said.

"We sat and watched her in agony. She was left half naked in the top she was wearing when she came in. There was no care at all."

Mr Powley said her stomach was swelling. He said they met her consultant, Frank Hinson, and asked why she hadn't had a CT scan, but the response was that he had been a doctor for 20 years, and didn't want to expose a young woman to radiation unnecessarily.

"At this point we were becoming incredibly frustrated. He said we were making her out to be more poorly than she was and accused us of overreacting," he said.

"His response was 'what do you want us to do - take her into surgery and cut her open with no reason?'"

Mr Powley said they spent all day at her bedside, and saw her becoming increasingly distressed.

He rang at 10am the next day, but was told there was no change. An hour later he received a call saying she'd taken a turn for the worse, with staff finding her unresponsive in bed.

She was resuscitated and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit.

The family were later told they had found a stomach ulcer during a scan. It had ruptured. She underwent surgery, but the infection had spread and she remained incredibly poorly.

Mr Powley said he saw her at 6.30am on March 6. "I told myself I was going to lose her," he said.

Her heart stopped later that day and efforts to save her failed.

Mr Powley claims the impression he got from hospital staff was that if the ulcer had been diagnosed earlier, they could have done more.

The inquest also saw Coroner Nicholas Shaw hear evidence from staff from North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, who were involved in Miss Harker's care.

They included now-retired consultant Martin Cowley, who discharged her the second time. He was asked if bed pressures were an issue but said, although busy, that would not affect his medical judgement.

Shaker Alseifi was the registrar who initially advised a CT scan, but this was later overruled by Mr Hinson. Mr Alseifi said he had felt that further investigations were needed, via a scan, but it was not uncommon for a more senior consultant to have a different opinion.

Relating to the conditions on the ward, nursing staff said they tried to change her but Miss Harker asked not to be moved.

Statements were also read from two doctors who have since moved abroad, so were not available for further questioning.

Mr Hinson is due to give evidence when the hearing continues today.