Man told 'you sound like you're feeling a bit sorry for yourself' on 111 call before he died

A man was told that he was 'feeling a bit sorry for himself' when he made an urgent 111 call and died just two days later.

David Nash made four calls to the NHS over a 19-day period, when he began feeling unwell back in 2020.

The 26-year-old musician explained to the handlers that he had been suffering from a number of symptoms, including headaches, stiffness and a fever.

As the days went by, Mr Nash's condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died two days after being taken to hospital on 2 November.

It was later revealed that he had developed mastoiditis in his ear, which led to an abscess on his brain and killed him.

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An inquest into the law student's death heard that he should have been booked in for an urgent face-to-face appointment with a doctor.

Speaking during the hearing on Monday (16 January), assistant coroner Abigail Combes read a statement from GP expert Alastair Bint.

While Dr Bint didn't criticise the remote handling of his first three calls, but said advanced nurse practitioner Lynne White, who answered his final call, should have responded to the 'red flags'.

He said that her diagnosis of a flu-like virus when Mr Nash explained he had been suffering from stiffness in the neck, night-time headaches and a fever was 'not safe'.

“This was a patient that needed to be seen in person," said Dr Bint.

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He added: “This was a patient demonstrating some significant red flags and needed to be seen.

“Had he been seen in-person, it seems likely to me he would’ve been admitted to hospital.”

When asked if Mr Nash may have survived if he'd been seen face-to-face following the consultation, he explained that he would have been seen by a specialist 10 hours earlier.

However, he admitted that it would need a neurosurgical expert to comment on the potential outcome of this.

Dr Bint also said there was unprecedented stress on the NHS at this time, as the Covid pandemic was still ongoing and people were being advised to seek remote consultations.

Mr Nash made four calls in total, the first with GP Jenny Carrick from Burley Park Medical Practice on 14 October.

He told her that he had lumps on his neck, and she booked him in for a blood test on 2 November.

His second was with advanced nurse practitioner Amy Linstrum, who prescribed him with some antibiotics and ear drops after he told her he had been suffering from a painful and hot ear.

Mr Nash's third call was on 28 October with locum GP Manjoor Shahid.

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He told the doctor then that he had noticed blood in his urine, which was diagnosed as a urinary tract infection.

During his final consultation, when Mr Nash explained that he was still feeling very unwell, Ms White told him: "You’re sounding like you’re feeling a bit sorry for yourself, are you feeling a bit rotten?"

In a statement that was read out in court, the nurse admitted that she sounded quite dismissive of his condition but that this is not how she intended her comment to come across.

Mr Nash died at Leeds General Infirmary on 4 November 2020.

Mr Nash’s parents, Andrew and Anne Nash, from Nantwich, Cheshire, have campaigned to find out whether the mastoiditis would have been identified and easily treated with antibiotics if their son had undergone a face-to-face examination earlier.