Dimitar Shtarbov
PFD Report
Historic (No Identified Response)
Ref: 2013-0178
Coroner's Concerns (AI summary)
Seasonal agricultural workers lacked awareness of and access to GP and emergency services in the UK. Many also self-medicated with prescription-only medicines obtained from their home countries.
View full coroner's concerns
(1) Evidence was presented to the effect that the majority of seasonal agricultural workers do not know how to access General Practitioner Services and indeed are not aware of the service. often access primary health care at need via the accident and emergency department (2) are often not aware of either the 999 service or the 111 service (3) are often not aware that they are entitled to GP services in the UK, without charge, for the management of chronic medical conditions (4) Dimitar obtained salbutamol inhalers (labelled in both English and Bulgarian ~ the latter_in Cyrillic Script) and injectable long acting_beclomethasone (labelled in Cyrillic and long his They They They script) by post from Bulgaria_ with extra supplies posted to him when he became iII: The evidence as to whether or not these medicines were shown to A&E staff was inconsistent was informed in Court that it is very common for seasonal workers with chronic conditions to have what would be prescription only medicines in the UK posted to them from home where such medicines can often be purchased freely without prescription.
Sent To
- South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group
Response Status
Linked responses
0 of 2
56-Day Deadline
3 Oct 2013
About PFD responses
Organisations named in PFD reports must respond within 56 days explaining what actions they are taking.
Source: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
Report Sections
Investigation and Inquest
On 20th August 2012 commenced an investigation into the death of Dimitar
Circumstances of the Death
Dimitar was a Bulgarian seasonal Agricultural worker with a history of asthma treated with bronchodilator inhalers, theophylline and long acting injected corticosteroids in Bulgaria. He did not declare this history when he completed pre-employment questionnaires. He arrived in Lincolnshire for his second year of seasonal work on 6'h July 2012. He became ill in early August and attended the A&E department at Pilgrim Hospital gth & 10th August 2012. Clinical staff at the hospital did not learn of history of Asthma: He was treated for a wheezy chest infection with antibiotics and a salbutamol inhaler. On the 11th of August; his condition deteriorated and his fellow workers brought him to the A&E department at Pilgrim Hospital. He was in cardiac arrest on his arrival and recuscitation attempts were unsuccessful
Action Should Be Taken
In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and believe your organisations have the power to take such action:
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Data sourced from Courts and Tribunals Judiciary under the Open Government Licence.