There were 11 opportunities to treat a nine-year-old chess champion in the months before he died of chronic asthma, an inquest has heard.

Michael Uriely was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London twice in the days before his death in 2015 after he suffered violent coughing and vomiting fits which left him struggling to breathe.

The national chess champion, from St John’s Wood , north-west London, died on August 25, five days after being discharged from the hospital for the second time.

In the months before his death he was also seen by NHS GPs, as well as having private doctor appointments.

The inquest heard Michael’s mother Ayelet Uriely “felt strongly” that her son was denied basic care, and said in a statement she was “devastated beyond words”, describing Michael as “highly gifted”.

Westminster Coroner’s Court heard on Wednesday March 15 there were chances to treat Michael in the months before his death.

While dealing with Mrs Uriely’s statement to the inquest, Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “There was 11 opportunities within seven months to appropriately test, diagnose and treat him.”

Michael was admitted into hospital on August 18 and discharged that evening, and readmitted on August 19, before being discharged the following day.

During the second visit, he was suffering from violent bouts of vomiting as well as a bloated chest, the inquest was told.

When he was being discharged, Mrs Uriely told staff: “I am scared my son will die tonight.” She also said Michael himself said he was “afraid to die.”

Mrs Uriely told her son: "Mummy's here."

She told the inquest: "I said: 'I'd never let anything bad happen to you."'

She said she spoke to staff about the "worst case scenario" but was told she was on a "wild goose chase".

Mrs Uriely told the inquest she made requests for Michael to be referred to an asthma clinic as well as Great Ormond Street Hospital , but these requests did not materialise before his death.

Michael collapsed in the early hours of August 25 and never regained consciousness.

The inquest heard from expert Dr Mark Levy who has been a GP for 40 years and has published more than 140 papers on asthma.

His statement said that Michael’s asthma was “poorly controlled” in the last year of his life.

Dr Levy also said that children with severe asthma “should be seen by a respiratory specialist”.

He added: “Severe asthma should be treated by a specialist, somebody with expertise.”

The inquest heard alleged accounts between Mrs Uriely with medical staff at the hospital, and GPs.

Among them was paediatrician Dr Neil Thompson, who had seen Michael at the Royal Free Hospital on August 18.

The court heard Dr Thompson thought Michael’s cough was likely to be “viral”, and he said: “He had no wheeze. He had good air entry.”

He did add that he knew Michael was having “an exacerbation” in his asthma.

The inquest continues today (Thursday March 16).

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!