A coroner has issued a warning after a 24 year old man died of skin cancer following his decision not to pay for a private medical test that may have caught the disease.
Gregor Lynn went to his GP in 2019 complaining about a 'nuisance' lesion on the back of his neck but was told it did not fit the health service criteria for further investigation.
He then paid £140 to have it removed privately but opted not to cough up the extra £65 to have samples sent for analysis to see if it was malignant - a procedure which would have been free on the NHS, an inquest heard.
Around 14 months later, with the lesion still bothering him, Mr Lynn returned to his GP and was referred to a specialist who diagnosed him with skin cancer.
Sadly, scans showed that the disease had already spread and despite treatment he died in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge just over two years later.