Noreen McGlynn

Senior Partner Mountfield Surgery 55 Mountfield Road Finchley London N3 3NR

I am: Coroner ME Hassell Senior Coroner Inner North London St Pancras Coroner’s Court Poplar Coroner’s Court Bow Coroner’s Court

On  5  February  2025,  one  of  my  assistant  coroners,  Ian  Potter, commenced an investigation into the death of Noreen McGlynn aged 89 years. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest yesterday. I made a determination of death by natural causes.

Noreen McGlynn developed a throat infection and a urinary tract infection at home and was prescribed amoxicillin by her general practitioner. She suffered an anaphylactic reaction to this and was admitted to hospital. The reaction was reversed, but she died three days later from her underlying conditions. I recorded her medical cause of death as: 1a aspiration pneumonia 1b  cerebrovascular disease and frailty of old age 2    anaphylaxis to penicillin.

During the course of the inquest, the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion, there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances, it is my statutory duty to report to you. The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows. I heard at inquest that, even before her anaphylaxis Ms McGlynn was waiting for an ambulance to take her to hospital. This was on the advice of two GPs and with the agreement of her daughter. However, Noreen McGlynn’s family did not want her to go to hospital. They believed that she had a better chance of remaining well out of hospital.  (The challenges that hospital admission present to the elderly are very well recognised.)  And if she were now dying, family knew that Ms McGlynn would want to die at home.  Her living situation was very supportive.  She was a widow but she had an excellent full time carer and a loving, extremely engaged family, with her daughter living near by. The reason that family now favoured hospital admission was because Ms McGlynn had become so dehydrated. They recognised that this was life threatening and likely to make her feel unwell.  If the rapid response team from the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust who visited, or the GPs from Mountfield Surgery, had been able to offer rehydration at home, this would have been a far preferable course of action for Noreen McGlynn and for her loved ones. Could such rehydration at home have been offered? Could it be offered to others in the future?

In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe that you have the power to take such action.