A university student died of sepsis after trying 25 times to go to a general practice, but an appointment was refused, an inquiry heard.
Toby Hudson, 19, was unable to speak to anyone at the office in Weymouth, Dorset, because of a faulty phone system, so he gave up and tried again the next day.
When he was able to speak with a member of the team, he was told that he could not make an appointment for at least 48 hours.
The teenager was told that, because he was registered at another surgical center in his university town of Southampton, Hants, he could wait two days to register again or go to an urgent care center.
He attended the center and was attended by nurse Briony Jefferis, who mistakenly diagnosed him with tonsillitis and gave him antibiotics.
Over the next 24 hours, Mr. Hudson’s condition worsened in front of his parents, who called 999 when he fell unconscious.
He had a cardiac arrest, but it took him a long time to get to the hospital because an ambulance went to the wrong place.
Toby died on the night of July 4, 2019, two days after he first sought help at the Wyke Regis & Lanehouse Medical Practice in Weymouth, Dorset.
A post-mortem examination showed that he died of multiple organ failure due to sepsis, due to infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever).
An investigation into his death in Bournemouth heard that Mr. Hudson had previously been patient at the Weymouth office.
However, when he moved to Southampton to study chemistry at the university, he enrolled in a new clinic near the campus.
He had been coughing for about two months before returning to his family’s home in Weymouth in the summer of 2019.
Toby was known to be suffering from swollen glands, ‘swollen’ tonsils and a sore throat when his parents told him to speak to a general practitioner.
Proving evidence, Dr. Matthew Brook, a partner at Wake Regis & Lanehouse Medical Practice, admitted problems with the telephone system due to the high patient load.
Dr. Brook said: “We were having tremendous problems with our phone system, which was unable to handle a much larger number of calls.
“We had updated the system, but it was not working properly.
“There was a queuing system, but in many cases people waited a long time and then hung up.
“We have received a review since then and no one remembers receiving the call from Toby.
Dr. Brook insisted that the correct procedures were followed. According to national guidelines, temporary residents should only be seen by a GP if they do not require urgent care.
He said: “With temporary residents, receptionists are advised to ask if the patient needs an urgent consultation, within 48 hours.
“If they need it within 48 hours, we send it to the emergency room.
“Otherwise, the patient is registered again and we can make an appointment.”
Mrs. Jefferis said she was “not even remotely concerned” about Toby’s symptoms when she examined him at the emergency room at Weymouth Community Hospital.
She added that he “did not show any signs of sepsis” and that his symptoms were “consistent with those of tonsillitis”.
Mr. Hudson’s father, Peter, came home on July 4th and found him pale, and when he helped his son go to the bathroom in the house, he lost consciousness for a moment, then called 999.
The teenager was then taken from his Weymouth home address to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, but died that night.
Hudson said, “I thought there was no urgency. I had to press for action to be taken and for our concerns to be heard. “
He added: “We have a lot of concerns about his treatment.”
With news and photos from Bournemouth