Duty nurse failed to spot deadly sepsis
AN NHS worker who hoped to be a paramedic died of sepsis after being twice sent home by a nurse at an out-of-hours firm.
Jessica Holbrook, 23, had been complaining of a sore throat and by the second appointment had a very fast heart rate. This is a key sepsis warning sign but rather than sending her to A&E, the nurse again told her to go home and take penicillin.
Jessica, of Barnsley, died the next day, in December 2017. She would have survived had she been given antibiotics much earlier.
The out-of-hours firm at the centre of the case, Barnsley i-Heart, was later rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission. The watchdog found patients were routinely being put at risk by staff working beyond their competency level. The firm was not checking qualifications of medical staff.
The failings came to light in a Serious Untoward Incident report, passed to the Mail.