Man died after doctor’s surgery told him to “put your feet” up when toes were turning black

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A man died after a doctor’s surgery advised him to “put your feet up” when he tried to book an appointment because his toes were turning black.

He ended up being rushed to hospital where surgeons were forced to amputate two of his toes, a councillor has revealed.

Cllr Maria Linforth-Hall recounted the shocking experience of a Southwark resident during a conversation about access to GP appointments at a health committee meeting on Monday.

The Liberal Democrat member for St George’s ward said the man, who lived on an estate in the borough, was also advised to take paracetamol for pain in his toes when he rang his local GP.

The man died at St Thomas’ Hospital a couple of weeks later.

Speaking at a Southwark council meeting, she said: “I have had several cases of people in my ward, one that died, because they said ‘take paracetamol because you have a pain on your toes’ and because the toes were getting black they said ‘put your feet up it’s a lack of circulation.’

They had to amputate two of his toes when he went to hospital and he died a couple of weeks later because of that.”

She later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “He never went back home. They were trying to send him back home… but he died before that.”

Cllr Linforth-Hall said a number of residents had contacted her saying they were struggling to get an appointment with their GP for weeks at a time.

She added: “Another lady had been feeling really very unwell. First of all she couldn’t get an appointment on the telephone.

“Then they told her why don’t you come and queue outside? She queue outside from before 8am and couldn’t get an appointment.

“This happened for two weeks I think.

“She kept going and not getting an appointment. She said a telephone appointment is no good for me because I need him to see a doctor personally.

“One day she called up, they took her to hospital and the hospital said ‘we need to do some tests’ and she had fourth degree cancer.”

A report by Partnership Southwark – which aims to improve the health and well-being of the borough’s residents – revealed there were 705,000 GP appointments in the borough between November 2021 and April, compared to 679,000 over a similar period before the Covid-19 pandemic.

But only 370,000 of those appointments were face-to-face compared to 444,000 before the pandemic.

Pictured top: The man died at St Thomas’ Hospital after the GP surgery advised him to put his feet up (Picture: flickr.com/Alex Proimos)