Coroner rules lack of radiologists after death of man in Peterborough hospital
Christian Hobbs died following an undiagnosed heart condition in 2017
Last updated 25th Apr 2025
A coroner has highlighted concerns over the lack of radiologists in England after the death of a man at a Peterborough hospital.
Christian Hobbs died after suffering from a heart condition that went undiagnosed until his death on Boxing Day in 2017.
An inquest into his death ruled that Christian - who had lived in Warwickshire, but trained as a boxer at the Heart of England Community Boxing Club in Hinckley in Leicestershire - ruled that he had suffered from arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
Christian was aged just 17 when he died at Peterborough City Hospital, with coroner David Heming presiding over the inquest.
Now, in a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, Heming noted that Hobbs' condition had gone "underappreciated" at the the hospital.
He has gone on to list a total of 19 different concerns relating to Christian's treatment that required improvement.
On top of this, Heming said he was worried that funding was not available to help highlight unknown conditions such as cardiogenic shock, a life-threatening disease that means the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen into the brain.
In his report - which was published earlier this month - Heming said that several concerns were discovered surrounding the number of radiologists in England and also the North West Anglia Foundation Trust (NWAFT).
He added that there had been several instances where "issues on exchanges of information" were critical in stunting the immediate care Christian could have received.
He explained: "There have now been a number of independent expert reviews in coronial investigations which have highlighted sub-optimal clinical care in fact-specific scenarios.
"This is a concern and it is unclear as to whether there has been a deep dive audit / review to look at patterns / trends rather than simply looking at raw overall mortality data."
On top of this, Heming said that a general lack of awareness among athletes and their trainers and parents is clear to see, and more would need to be done to help spot the signs of potential heart problems.
The NWAFT have said they will look into the findings of the report and will offer a response before June 2nd, which was the mandated deadline by the coroner.