Thursday 29 September 2022 10:56 AM NHS officials ruled student died after being denied face-to-face appointment trends now
The family of the law student believe he would not have died if he had been seen face-to-face by a GP
A law student died after wrongly being denied a face-to-face GP appointment, the NHS has admitted.
David Nash, 26, from Nantwich in Cheshire, had four phone appointments with GPs and nurses between October and November 2020.
He was denied an in-person consultation, despite telling practice staff that he was suffering excruciating ear and neck pain and slurring his words.
Mr Nash tested negative for Covid on the same day he was finally due a face-to-face appointment, only for it to be cancelled anyway.
Medics told him to re-test and prescribed him painkillers, in what one GP described as 'a breach of duty'.
He died from a brain abscess two days after his last contact with his GP surgery. Relatives say it was triggered by an ear infection.
An internal NHS England probe into Mr Nash's death concluded that 'a face-to-face assessment should have been offered or organised'.
Mr Nash's parents, who are convinced he would be alive if he was seen in-person, have spoken out about the 'appalling care' their son received, accusing the health service of 'completely' letting him down.
David Nash, 26, (pictured) had four remote consultations with doctors and nurses at a Leeds GP practice over a 19-day period before he died from a brain abscess on November 4, 2020
Mr Nash had been in touch with his surgery on four occasions between October 14 and November 2 2020.
Recordings of his four calls were obtained by BBC Newsnight and will be broadcast tonight, with the permission of his family.
They reveal that he was due to be seen at his surgery for a blood test on the day of his fourth and final call to his GP.
Mr Nash, who was studying law at the University of Leeds, told of debilitating neck pain and was slurring his words.
He told a
