Retired postman suffering chest pains died of suspected hear

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Retired postman suffering chest pains died of suspected heart attack 'after three-hour wait in A&E'

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Roger Garrett was neither triaged nor examined when he attended A&E complaining of chest pains, it has been claimed

A patient with chest pains collapsed and died after waiting more than three hours to be seen at A&E, it has been claimed.

Retired postman Roger Garrett, 64, was neither triaged nor examined when he arrived at Whipps Cross Hospital, north east London, according to his partner.

The couple had gone to the hospital in Waltham Forest, east London, after Mr Garrett developed a 'stitch' in his chest while out on a walk.

Mr Garrett and his partner of 40 years William Caster arrived at A&E just before midday on July 20.

Mr Caster claimed they were made to wait for three hours while they watched other patients with minor injuries get called to see doctors.

He says at 3pm Mr Garrett's name was called and he went into another room which turned out to be another waiting room.

He added that an hour later a doctor came out and told Mr Caster his partner had collapsed as soon as he had entered the next room.

A resuscitation team worked on him for an hour but were unable to save him and he died of a suspected heart attack.

Mr Caster said: "I just cant explain it, I'm in total shock. Why were people with sprained wrists seen before him?

"Aren't chest pains a priority? We thought we were safe, we said we were in the best place and we would find out what was wrong.

"He didn't see anybody at all. I just cant help thinking that if they had seen him, he might still be here with me."

"I thought he was going in to see the doctor when they called him at 3pm.

"Soon after all the alarms started going off and they were rushing people out of the other waiting room.

"I was sitting listening to everybody moaning about the wait time, and he was dying in the next room, and I had no idea.

"I thought he had been taken in to see a doctor, not put in another waiting room.

"Everyone is devastated. He did so much for so many people. Its just such a shock, there was no warning."

Barts Health NHS Trust which runs the hospital has launched an investigation into Mr Garrett's death.

A statement released said: "Our A&E teams were deeply saddened by the death of Mr Garrett who, despite their best efforts, they were unable to save. The hospital’s thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time.

"The safety of our patients is the Trust’s absolute priority. We have begun an investigation to understand if anything could have been done differently from when Mr Garrett was assessed by a senior nurse approximately one hour into his arrival and kept under direct observation by nursing staff for further clinical investigations. Our findings will be shared with Mr Garrett’s family.

"The delay in providing information to Mr Garrett’s partner about the change in his condition is also being investigated."