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A 19-year-old died of sepsis after trying 25 times to undergo GP surgery only to be denied an appointment, according to an investigation.
College student Toby Hudson was unable to speak to anyone in practice due to a faulty phone system and eventually gave up and called again the next day to be told they couldn’t see him for at least 48 hours.
The tragic teenager was told that because he was registered for another surgery in his university town of Southampton, Hants, he could wait two days to re-register or go to an urgent care center without an appointment.
Toby died two days after first seeking help at Wyke Regis & Lanehouse medical practice in Weymouth, Dorset.
An investigation into his death in Bournemouth heard that Toby had previously been a patient at the Weymouth practice.
However, when she moved to Southampton to study chemistry at university, she checked into a new clinic closer to campus.
He had been suffering from a cough for about two months before returning to his family’s home in Weymouth in the summer of 2019.
Toby suffered from swollen glands and “swollen” tonsils and a sore throat when his parents told him to talk to a GP.
He attended the center and was seen by a nurse practitioner who mistakenly diagnosed him with tonsillitis and gave him antibiotics, according to the investigation.
Over the next 24 hours, his condition deteriorated and his parents called 999 when he lost consciousness. A cardiac arrest was entered in the back of the ambulance and a backup team was called in.
He was delayed getting to the hospital after the backup team went to the wrong place. Later, Toby was taken to the theater at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, but died in hospital that night.
Toby’s father, Peter Hudson, described the day of his son’s death on July 4, 2019, when he returned home to find him under a blanket and looking pale.
She helped him into the damp room in the house where his son’s eye went blank, there were bubbles of saliva in his mouth, and he briefly lost consciousness.
Hudson said: “I felt there was no urgency. I had to push for action and for our concerns to be heard.
“There were problems with communication. The backup team went to our home address and so the neighbors told me they were having trouble finding the home.
“They were knocking on doors before they realized what had happened.
“Then they had to travel almost three miles to where the ambulance actually was through Weymouth’s summer traffic and roadworks.
“We have many concerns about his care.”
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Providing evidence, Dr. Matthew Brook, a partner at Wake Regis & Lanehouse Medical Practice, admitted problems with the phone system due to a large number of patients and said a review has since been conducted.
Dr. Brook said the correct procedures had been followed. According to national guidelines, temporary residents should only be seen by a GP if they do not require urgent care.
Nurse Practitioner Briony Jefferis said she was “not even remotely concerned” about Toby’s symptoms when she examined him at the Weymouth Community Hospital urgent care center and said he was “not showing any signs of sepsis.”
The investigation continues.
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