A HEARTBROKEN fiancee has described the agonising moment her partner died following “serious failings” by paramedics.

Following a two-day inquest at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court it was concluded that Steven Jackson would have survived if he had been given better treatment.

Steven, 37, passed away from epiglottitis on March 5, 2014. He attended the accident and emergency department at Southend Hospital around 7am, complaining of difficulty breathing and swallowing.

An out-of-hours doctor told him to purchase over the counter medication and sent him home but just three hours later, his fiancee had to call an ambulance as his condition continued to deteriorate.

At 10am, an ambulance was called to his home as his condition deteriorated, with his fiancee describing that he looked pale with purple lips.

Paramedics spent an hour assessing him before diagnosing a virus and saying he did not require hospital treatment.

Three hours later, after another ambulance was called at around 1pm, he suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

His fiancee Shelley Jackson, told the inquest: “There are no words horrific enough to describe that horrendous day. Steven’s life was disposed of by incompetence and neglect. Steven was failed, we were all failed.

“My life has a big dark hole that can never be filled. I have lost my finance, my soul mate, my best friend and my children’s role model.

“I still believe that Steven would still be here today if the correct procedures were followed.”

Miss Jackson, business manager at Greenways School, in Southend, was planning to marry Steven last July.

She discussed the moment Steven collapsed at home just before she called the ambulance for the second time.

She said: “He couldn’t breathe. He started to lose consciousness and his eyes started rolling back. His face was purple and he couldn’t breathe. I put him in the recovery position, there was blood coming out of his mouth.”

Recording her conclusion, coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said: “There were serious failings in the care Mr Jackson received from the ambulance staff. With appropriate timely treatment Mr Jackson would likely have survived.”

Sandy Brown, deputy chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Service trust apologised for the care provided to Steven She said: “It has been determined by our own investigation and the coroner that he should have received appropriate care when we first attended him, following his visit to the out of hours doctor earlier that day.

“We met with Steven’s family last year which gave them the opportunities to share their concerns and rightly ask for answers.

“Following our investigation and in the wake of Steven’s death, a number of actions we took included one-to-one training, a checklist for staff to complete to ensure it is suitable for a patient to be left at home, and making staff more aware of acute epiglottitis.

"The coroner also raised the issue of training in sepsis recognition, which has been and remains one of our top priorities with staff.”

The court heard the out of hours doctor who had seen Steven had ‘dated’ knowledge on epiglottitis.

The condition, the inflammation and swelling of the epiglottis behind the root of the tongue is regarded as a medical emergency and can significantly restrict oxygen supply to the lungs and is treated with antibiotics.

Mrs Beasley-Murray said the assessment carried out by doctor Babu Hussain on the morning of Mr Jackson’s death was “largely appropriate” but his knowledge of epiglottitis was “dated”.

Dr Mark Metcalfe, associate medical director for IC24 ltd, who supply out of hours doctors for the hospital, said Dr Hussain has continued to work with them.

He said: “I have never had any concerns about Dr Hussain’s practice or medical skills. He is up to date with training requirements.”

Discussing epiglottitis and up to date knowledge on the disease he said: “There is a general impression amongst GP’s that it’s more common amongst children and that this is a leaning point for us all.”

MR Jackson’s family hope lessons will be learnt and proper care will be provided in the future.

Simon Watkins, Steven’s brother-in-law, said: “His family and all his many friends have been left completely devastated by losing Steve and even though the inquest has gone some way to help us understand what happened, it is unbearable to think that basic steps were not followed to diagnose his condition.

“Epiglottitis is a critical condition, but one which is treatable with antibiotics. The family now know that had he received appropriate treatment he would still be alive and with us today. This makes losing him even more difficult to bear.”

Louise Forsyth, a specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing his family, said: “We are continuing to work with the family who are desperate to ensure that lessons are learned from his case and that patient safety is improved to prevent other people suffering the same problems that he endured.”