A 'FIT and popular' father died in A&E hours after arriving with a sore throat, an inquest has heard.

Mark Davies, 43, died on October 22 2017 at Hereford County Hospital from acute epiglottitis, a rare, potentially life threatening condition, which causes the airway to become inflamed.

Mr Davies, who had no reported health problems, had complained of having a sore throat earlier that afternoon, which worsened as the day went on.

His wife, Wendy Davies, drove him to hospital just before 10pm after her husband said he was having difficulty swallowing and could feel a lump blocking his throat.

Mr Davies was immediately assessed by a triage nurse, where he received a NEWS ranking of 2 which showed that his condition was not serious. However, his complaints of severe pain placed him as a priority 2 patient, which, the inquest heard, meant he should have been seen by a doctor in ten minutes.

However, as Mr Davies was speaking and mobile, medics did not believe his airways to be compromised.

Mr Davies, who worked as a HGV driver, was then transferred to a cubicle in the department, where after over an hour he was assessed by a staff nurse who was concerned about Mr Davies' breathing difficulties and wanted him to be seen by a doctor.

Mr Davies then suffered a collapse and went into cardiac arrest.

Despite the resuscitation efforts of doctors, Mr Davies was pronounced dead at 11:52pm.

The inquest heard that questions had been raised by Mr Davies' family as to why he was not seen by a doctor during the hour after he was assessed in triage, despite being a priority 2 patient.

Hospital staff explained that doctors were working on resuscitation wards, and that Mr Davies had arrived at the hospital not showing the 'usual' symptoms of his illness.

As he could walk and was talking in complete sentences, the severity of his illness and his breathing difficulties was not obvious, the inquest heard.

A pathologist described the condition as usually a 'life threatening medical emergency' but 'rapid medical intervention can be life saving and lead to a full recovery'.

Assistant Coroner Roland Wooderson said Mr Davies' death was 'tragic and unexpected’.

He ruled out an addition of neglect to the conclusion.

Mr Wooderson told the inquest: "It seems to me I can not and should not attach a finding of neglect to the conclusion. Neglect is not shown on the balance of probabilities on the evidence before me."

He recorded a conclusion of natural causes at the inquest at Hereford Town Hall on November 21.