A MAN who died from toxic shock should have been in hospital hours before he finally received medical assistance, an expert told a fatal accident inquiry yesterday.

Dr Dermot Kennedy, an infectious disease consultant, said if he had been in the position of a nurse adviser at the helpline, NHS 24, he would have called an ambulance for Steven Wiseman, 30, from Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire.

Mr Wiseman died in December last year from streptococcal toxic shock

(STS).

His fiancee made three phone calls in two days to NHS 24, and was told he was displaying flu-like symptoms and to give him paracetamol and ibuprofen. A doctor came to the house on December 21, and Mr Wiseman was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where he died

Dr Kennedy, of Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow, yesterday at Aberdeen Sheriff Court examined the transcripts of three calls made to NHS 24 on December 19 and 21. In one call, in the early hours of December 21, Mr Wiseman tells the adviser his arm is painful and he is

having difficulty breathing because he is "sore".

He is told it is likely he has flu.

Dr Kennedy said these symptoms were not flu-like.

Christine McCrossan, a solicitor representing the Wiseman family, asked DrKennedy, 61, what he would consider to be the "clinically safe" outcome for a call with someone describing such symptoms. "At this stage he should be in hospital, " he said. "He should have been in hospital before that, but certainly by this stage."

He said an urgent admission to hospital after this call would probably have been the "last opportunity" to save his life.

During questioning by David Holmes, representing the GPs who saw Mr Wiseman before he was taken to hospital, Dr Kennedy agreed that

when Mr Wiseman was seen on December 20, his pulse and temperature were normal.

The inquiry continues.