Doctor told woman who died from deep vein thrombosis 'to wear comfortable shoes and take ibuprofen' Jacqueline Allwood went to Beckenham Beacon Urgent Care Centre 47-year-old feared fearing a sore right calf might have indicated DVT Receptionist referred her to adjoining Cator Medical Centre to see GP Dr Saurabh Adlakha diagnosed sprain from packing up Christmas tree Death: Jacqueline Allwood died from a blood clot last year, but was misdiagnosed with a calf sprain A woman suffering from deep vein thrombosis was told to take ibuprofen and "wear comfortable shoes" when a doctor misdiagnosed her condition as a sprain, an inquest heard today. A coroner condemned Dr Saurabh Adlakha for neglect after he failed to ask about her family history or refer her to Accident & Emergency. Jacqueline Allwood, 47 - who died ten days later - had gone to the Beckenham Beacon Urgent Care Centre in south-east London fearing a sore right calf might have indicated DVT. A receptionist referred the mother - who had been "limping around" and had a family history of DVT - to the adjoining Cator Medical Centre, which deals with minor conditions, to see a GP. A second receptionist then warned Ms Allwood she faced a two-hour wait, so could either "go away or wait to see a doctor." She decided to wait and eventually saw a doctor. Dr Adlakha, who examined her, ruled out DVT in favour of a sprain he said she probably suffered while packing up her Christmas tree days earlier, Southwark Coroner's Court heard. He sent her home and told her to rest, take ibuprofen, apply ice and wear comfortable shoes. She died ten days later, with a post-mortem examination indicating a blood clot in her calf had travelled to her lung. Coroner Dr Andrew Harris said Dr Adlakha should be referred to the General Medical Council to see if there was any training he could be given to prevent a similar event happening again. Referral: Ms Allwood went to the Beckenham Beacon Urgent Care Centre (pictured) in south-east London fearing a sore right calf might have indicated DVT Medical expert Dr Patrick Harborow told the court in Central London that the misdiagnosis could have been representative of a system-wide failure of the time pressures facing GPs. "I do feel that general practitioners are working under very serious time pressures," he said. My concern is... the time pressures may lead to inadequate consultations. He said Dr Adlakha committed "very serious failures" by not considering Ms Allwood's family history or conducting proper tests. He recommended Dr Adlakha be referred to the General Medical Council. But Dr Adlakha denied he was rushed and insisted he had determined the pain was the result of a sprain because he could see no swelling or other symptoms of DVT. However, he conceded he should have asked more about Ms Allwood's family history and his threshold for referring patients for further tests had lowered since the incident. Dr Adlakha told the court he would conduct more thorough tests in the future because "I don't want to be here again." He said: "It is only the registration details we see, so we go ahead and take a medical history. Ms Allwood had been in pain for four days - it was not a recent trauma with no swelling in leg. She had pain but I don't remember her limping. I can't remember if I asked her about her family history. I didn't assess whether any of the risk factors for DVT applied. I asked why she was here and she said she had pain in her right calf. I asked her to expose it and she said she was worried about DVT. I asked if there was anything she could think of that would give this pain and she said she had been in the loft lifting decorations and I said maybe she had just sprained her calf. I told her to take ibuprofen and wear comfortable shoes and gave her some exercises. It does matter if a diagnosis of a clot is missed because it could breakaway and go to the lungs or brain, and there are treatments to prevent that. Inquest: Dr Saurabh Adlakha told Southwark Coroner's Court (file picture) in Central London he would conduct more thorough tests in the future because 'I don't want to be here again' Ms Allwood's daughter Tanya Allwood said Dr Adlahka knew the family's history of DVT because she made a point of mentioning it in his office. She told the inquest: "We were seen by a doctor at about 5.35am and I went in with her because she had trouble walking and was leaning on me for support. Mum rolled up her trouser leg and explained she felt her leg was swollen and had trouble walking. The doctor asked her to roll up her other trouser leg and said we can rule out a DVT, as the leg would have to be severely swollen to indicate that. We both said we were relieved it wasn't DVT because it runs in our family, and the doctor said it was simply a sprain. She said she then told the doctor: "Oh, that is really good it's not a DVT - we thought it was because it runs in the family." She added: "My nan suffered with DVT and my aunt has had blood clots. He asked if there was anything mum could have done and I said about her getting decorations out of the loft on a ladder. 'We both said we were relieved it wasn't DVT because it runs in our family, and the doctor said it was simply a sprain' Tanya Allwood, daughter The doctor gave her seven to ten days recovery period, gave her ibuprofen, told her about some exercises she could do and advised her to use an ice pack. He looked at her legs for a matter of seconds. Recording a narrative verdict, the coroner said: "I find it improbable to believe that the family wouldn't have mentioned their history to the doctor so conclude the referral to DVT was made. Dr Harborow said he should have referred to the history. The consequences of missing this are in this case catastrophic. I record a narrative verdict. With respect to the history taken and non-referral to A&E, I find Dr Adlakha in neglect. He was not the most credible witness and appeared confused. I am going to refer this to the GMC. There are uncertainties about what has happened and why it happened. After the verdict, sisters Tanya and Leanne Allwood said in a statement: "We are very pleased with the coroner's verdict. He was very thorough and he gave us a conclusion that confirmed everything that we thought and were suspicious of. In a sense this is closure because we feel justified because sometimes things happen and someone is looking at it the same way as us and agrees with that. I just want Dr Adlakha to look at the things he did and do it differently. We don't need him to be punished but retrained again. We never want to see another family go through that. We're just glad we got the verdict and will see what happens next. The two girls also paid tribute to their "sincere" mum, who used to be an accounts manager: "She was funny, loveable and trustworthy - one of the most sincere and nicest people you could meet."