Coroner's verdict on death of mayor's attendant who was misdiagnosed on arrival at hospital

A coroner has expressed concern over the misdiagnosis of a long-serving mayor’s attendant’s condition when he presented at Blackpool Victoria Hospital’s emergency department with pain in his arms.

Peter Hutton died at the hospital some time later after being called back in for cardiac treatment once test results came through, having been initially sent home hours earlier.

Triage nurse Francis Chan told an inquest at Blackpool Town Hall that when Mr Hutton had presented at the emergency department with bilateral arm pain, his initial assessment was that it was musculoskelatal pain with a neurological cause.

Nurse Chen admitted he had not consulted Mr Hutton’s medical records and was unaware at the time that he was diabetic - a condition that can lead to "silent" or atypical heart attacks because nerve damage can block typical severe chest pain.

After it was known about Mr Hutton’s diabetes, a doctor then took the decision to discharge Mr Hutton before a cardiovascular investigation was completed only for him to be called back in a few hours later once test results were available.

Blackpool and Fylde assistant coroner Louise Rae said the decision to initially discharge Mr Hutton was one that should never have been taken and added that she found the lack of awareness at triage “difficult to reconcile with Blackpool’s role as a cardiac centre”.

Ms Rae said it was not possible to tell on the balance of probabilities whether earlier intervention could have resulted in a different outcome but if Mr Horton’s condition had been identified earlier, steps could have been taken.

She said she had considered whether the care given to Mr Hutton could be regarded as “neglect” or “negligence” but felt it was more a case of “shortcomings” from which she hoped the hospital would learn, particularly all new recruits to the emergency department.

Returning a conclusion of natural causes, Ms Rae offered her condolences to Mr Hutton’s family on the loss of a man who was “deeply loved” and paid tribute to Mr Hutton’s wife Paula for her care during the events leading up to his death.

Mr Hutton had been married to Paula since 1996 and the couple had four children together - Naomi, Bethany, Hannah and Samuel - in addition to Mr Hutton’s older children Joanna and Simon and Paula’s older children, Peter and Jason.

Mr Hutton also left five grandchildren.

As Wyre mayor’s attendant, he was a familiar figure at mayoral functions over many years and also served as a Special Constable with Lancashire Police for more than 30 years, moving through the ranks to become a divisional officer.

It was in that capacity that he was awarded the MBE in 2001, with 26 officers under his control covering the whole of Wyre at the time of his award

Mr Hutton, who lived in Fleetwood, also played a key role in establishing the Cleveleys Community Church and was also a businessman, running a number of garages in Fleetwood, as well as being a school governor at Larkholme Primary School.