Preventable Deaths Tracker – Details, episodes & analysis

On Friday, 8 March 2024 the BBC published an analysis of coroner reports that was disseminated on several platforms including BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

In this podcast recording from BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, I spoke with Nina Warhurst about coroners’ reports and the need for resourcing and funding our work. Until then, the Preventable Deaths Tracker will keep tracking.

Allergies are often thought to be mild; hay fever, a rash or itch. But allergies are also fatal. Deaths involving allergies are often from anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that occurs immediately after exposure to the allergen.

In this podcast, I interview Tanya Ednan-Laerouse OBE, the Co-Founder and Trustee of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. Tanya shares the life of her 15-year-old daughter, Natasha, who in 2018, suffered a fatal anaphylaxis from a baguette purchased from Pret-A-Manger.

Following Natasha’s inquest, the coroner wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths report (PFD) that was the catalyst for significant change.

Take a listen to our podcast to hear about Natasha’s Law and the incredible work being done by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation to make allergy history. There are very few, if any, PFDs that have achieved this much.

“Without that incredible PFD that Sean Cunnings wrote, we wouldn’t have had the platform for which to do that [campaign]. It would have been a lot harder.” Tanya Ednan-Laerouse OBE

Our work on the Preventable Deaths Tracker is here: https://preventabledeathstracker.net/

You can sign up for our newsletter here: https://preventabledeaths.substack.com/

Dr Richards was an invited keynote speaker at the Chief Coroner’s Conference on Friday, 17 March 2023. In this presentation, she discusses three key publications, including:

* Preventable deaths involving medicines published in Drug Safety by France et al. 2023

* Preventable deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic published in BMJ EBM by Swift et al. 2021

* An analysis of over 4000 coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths reports (PFDs) published in the Medico-Legal Journal by Zhang & Richards 2023