A mother is on a crusade to get to the bottom of her teenage daughter's death.

Norma Haigh, of Quebec Road, Hastings, believes too much has been made of why her daughter Rachel was admitted to hospital and facts surrounding her death largely ignored.

The 17-year-old died on New Year's Day 1999 after internally bleeding after an operation.

Rachel, who attended Hastings College, chewed her hair and had been operated on to remove a hairball from her abdomen the size and shape of a rugby ball.

Since her death, Mrs Haigh, 48, and friend of 30 years Jane Johns have faced a daily struggle to get to the bottom of why the trainee hairdresser was allowed to bleed for so long.

Mrs Haigh said: "We just want the truth to be told. This wasn't a girl who died from a hairball - this was a girl who died after bleeding for hours."

Rachel had been admitted to the Conquest Hospital, Hastings, the day before her death with stomach cramps.

Surgeons removed the mass of hair and told her Mrs Haigh Rachel would be home in five days.

Mrs Haigh said: "She had the operation at 5pm and she seemed quite coherent. I stayed with her all night until 8am when I went home for a change of clothes."

She said staff were aware of the internal bleeding after Rachel showed symptoms on a routine check made at 10pm and, after another check at 2.30am, a call was put out for the on-duty house officer, who arrived at 5.30am.

She had rushed back to hospital after being contacted by her daughter's boyfriend and discovered Rachel had signed her own consent form for a further operation because of the haemorrhage.

She and Mrs Johns were ushered to the relatives waiting room and told Rachel had been moved to a high dependency ward.

As Mrs Haigh left the room she was told her daughter had died before she had the chance to be operated on.

Mrs Haigh has already successfully battled to win an out-of-court settlement from the East Sussex NHS Trust for £15,000, which helped pay for Rachel's funeral.

The trust has admitted care given to Rachel the night before she died was below standard.

But Mrs Haigh is not satisfied and has pleaded with the General Medical Council (GMC) to open an inquiry into Rachel's death and made a written complaint about surgeon John Lyttle, who was involved in Rachel's care.

The GMC has asked for all case notes before deciding on action.