Peterborough hospital death: Christian Hobbs, 17, 'not seen by cardiologist'

A teenager who died after developing a resting pulse rate of 240bpm was not seen by a cardiologist after admission to A&E, an inquest has heard.

Christian Hobbs died suddenly at Peterborough City Hospital on Boxing Day 2017. The 17-year-old had an undiagnosed heart condition.

On the first day of a two-week inquest, Christian's family said it was told there was no specialist on the ward.

Most adults have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100bpm, the NHS says.

Christian's grandfather, James Christie, who is also a retired consultant surgeon in orthopaedic trauma, gave evidence to senior coroner David Heming at Peterborough Town Hall on Monday.

Mr Christie said he attended a meeting, a month after Christian's death, with the critical care consultant who saw the teenager in A&E.

"She said there was no cardiologist on the ward [at the time he was admitted]," said Mr Christie.

"I found that a bit of a gobstopper. I had to try to work through that in my head.

"I found that extraordinary that a large receiving unit like Peterborough City Hospital would not have a cardiologist on call."

The inquest heard Christian, a boarder at Rugby School, started complaining of flu-like symptoms on the evening of Christmas Day.

Mr Christie, who was staying overnight, observed him the next day.

"He was morbidly pale," he said.

He recalled that Christian, a keen boxer, measured a pulse rate of 240bpm, but said there was "little pulsation" in his radial artery and "essentially no circulation" in his fingers.

The inquest heard Christian's parents rushed him to hospital by car.

"A pulse rate of 240bpm, the cardiac output, no radial pulse - I thought that would attract cardiologists from all over the country," said Mr Christie.

The inquest heard Christian was resuscitated at least once and was diagnosed with sepsis in the lead-up to his sudden death in hospital.

Edward Ramsay, a barrister acting for the family, questioned why there was no data from the electrocardiogram that he was hooked up to and suggested the coroner visited the hospital to "interrogate the files".

The inquest is also expected to look at what contact was made with the specialist heart unit at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, the training protocols at Peterborough City Hospital and issues in communication.

Mr Christie, who struggled through tears on several occasions, said: "Christian was absolutely delightful. He loved boxing and he was extremely fit."

The inquest continues.

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