From UK DAILY MAIL
Man, 20, dies from swine flu and pneumonia after NHS Direct nurse told him to go to the chemist rather than A&E
- Unnamed patient called hotline due to diarrhoea and vomiting, chesty cough and discoloured mucous
- Senior nurse who spoke to him ignored the computer's advice about going to A&E and sent him to chemist
- Patient died the next day after being rushed to hospital
|
A 20-year-old man died from swine flu and pneumonia after a senior nurse at NHS Direct told him to go to the chemist instead of A&E.
The unnamed man, known only as Patient A, had called the hotline twice in two days complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting for six days. He also described a chesty cough and discoloured mucous.
But rather than following the advice on the computer, which said the man should go to A&E, Fadzai Jaravaza, a senior nurse advisor for NHS Direct Essex, instead told the caller to get cough syrup from the chemist and treat himself.
