David Nash: Inquest told Leeds student 'needed to be seen in person'

David Nash was studying law at The University of Leeds

A student who died after a series of remote consultations should have had an urgent face-to-face appointment, an inquest was told.

David Nash, 26, had four phone consultations with a Leeds GP practice over a 19-day period in October and November 2020.

He died after being taken to hospital when his condition deteriorated.

It was later found that he had developed mastoiditis in his ear, which caused an abscess on his brain.

Assistant coroner Abigail Combes read a statement at the inquest in Wakefield from GP expert Alastair Bint, who said a nurse should have organised an urgent in-patient appointment after a phone consultation on 2 November 2020.

Dr Bint said he did not criticise the remote nature of Mr Nash's first three consultations in October by Burley Park Medical Centre.

But the expert concluded that Mr Nash's consultation with advanced nurse practitioner Lynne White on 2 November should have a generated a face-to-face appointment which is likely to have led to a hospital admission.

Dr Bint said Mr Nash's presentation of fever, neck stiffness and night-time headaches were "red flags" and the nurse's diagnosis of a flu-like virus was "not safe".

He said: "This was a patient that needed to be seen in person."

"Had he been seen in-person, it seems likely to me he would've been admitted to hospital," he added.

In his report, the doctor said he was asked to comment on whether the final outcome would have been different if Mr Nash had been seen face-to-face.

He noted the patient would have been in hospital 10 hours earlier but it was for a neurosurgical expert to comment on whether the outcome would have been different.

Dr Bint's report stressed the NHS was dealing with an unprecedented situation at the time, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and NHS England advice was for GP patients to be seen remotely in most cases.

In her evidence, read to the court, nurse Lynne White said she accepted when she told Mr Nash on 2 November "you're sounding like you're feeling a bit sorry for yourself, are you feeling a bit rotten", it appeared now as if she was being dismissive. But she insisted she was simply reflecting that the patient seemed unwell.

Mr Nash died on 4 November 2020, despite efforts to save him by neurosurgeons at Leeds General Infirmary.

He had just started the second year of a law degree at Leeds University when he died after a number of years as a drummer on Leeds's music scene, touring Europe with his band Weirds and recording an album.

The inquest continues.