NHS makes changes after man died following Covid jab

An NHS care board has made "significant" changes to its processes after a 27-year-old man died as a result of having a Covid vaccine.

Jack Last, 27, from Stowmarket, Suffolk, died from a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in 2021.

The following year, an inquest found he died as a "direct result" of the jab and a review into his death revealed Mr Last was wrongly offered the vaccine months before he should have been.

The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it had made changes to the way information was shared between health bodies.

A previous report commissioned by the ICB found admin errors meant Mr Last was wrongly offered the vaccine and that staff at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds failed to spot how ill he was after he received the jab. He died on 20 April 2021.

The ICB, which plans and buys healthcare services for the area, has a budget of around £1.5bn.

At a board meeting on Tuesday the changes were outlined, which included:

• An update to the My Care Record information sharing agreement "to include a section on collective responsibility for data sharing, maintaining accurate records, and appropriate interpretation of data given known quality issues"
• 64 GP surgeries signing up to updating the national database of all NHS patients with mortality data
• Improved processes to quickly send out new information during an emergency
• Sharing information about Mr Last's death with the Covid-19 Inquiry

Dr Andrew Kelso, medical director at the ICB, said: "There was some deeper thinking and reflection for us all to do on Jack's death and how we respond to that internally.

"We have made some, I think, significant changes in the way that we use shared data, to improve the safety of the use of shared data."

In a previously released statement, Mr Last's sister Jasmine described her brother as "happy, healthy, witty and entertaining".

Before he received the vaccine "he hadn't had a single day sick from work. He was very rarely unwell. Then suddenly he was not fine".

"It all happened so quickly, it still struggles to hit home at times that we are never going to see him again," she added.

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