Mum died after flu or Covid diagnosis - inquest

Charlotte Alderson was not taken to hospital after medical professionals concluded she did not need to go

Medical professionals believed a mother-of-three was suffering with flu or Covid before she died hours later of another viral infection, an inquest heard.

Charlotte Alderson, 34, of Beck Row, Suffolk, had been vomiting and complained of excruciating headaches before she died on 21 December 2022.

An emergency medical technician (EMT) who saw her at the scene spoke to a GP on the phone, and both concluded she did not need to go to hospital.

After her death, it was revealed Mrs Alderson had group A streptococcus, a common type of bacteria.

The inquest, at Suffolk Coroner's Court in Ipswich, heard Mrs Alderson initially began to feel unwell on 15 December with a cold and earache, and continued to feel this way for several more days.

She was prescribed a spray to treat ear infections but her condition did not improve.

'Blue tinge'

Her husband Stuart Alderson, who sat with Mrs Alderson's parents alongside a large image of her, gave evidence during the inquest.

He said he called 999 on 21 December after his wife had been up all night vomiting and with diarrhoea, saying she lacked "energy, which is really unusual".

Mr Alderson said he was told by one of the ambulance crew that there was a 14-hour wait at hospital, and that all that would happen there anyway was that she would have a blood test.

"To my mind, I thought, 'Well if you think she's OK, we're happy to accept that decision not to go'," Mr Alderson told the court.

He said he had noticed his wife's lips had a blue tinge to them.

Morgan Burt, an EMT who attended to Mrs Alderson, said she had not seen the blue tinge and that if she had, that would have been treated as a "high priority".

The inquest jury heard a recording of a phone call between Ms Burt and Dr Emma Ayers, who was the duty GP at the time.

Ambulance staff could call GPs for advice on patients' well-being and potential treatments, but Dr Ayers told the court that system was no longer in place.

In the audio recording, Dr Ayers said Mrs Alderson could be suffering from a viral infection and that she should drink plenty of fluids and take a Covid test.

In court, Dr Ayers said that when she said it could be a viral infection "that was only half of the sentence; I was thinking this could be bacterial and she could be septic".

Dr Ayers said she was not told during the call that Mrs Alderson had blue lips, and that had she been, she would have advised that she be taken directly to hospital as an emergency.

She said if she could change her advice that day, she would have invited Mrs Alderson to an appointment that afternoon.

The inquest continues.