THE family of a Taunton woman who died of kidney failure say they were let down by a basic lack of communication at one of the town's doctors' surgeries.

Mother-of-two Christine Ann Edwards, 45, of Orchid Close, died just over an hour after visiting the Crown Medical Centre, Venture Way, on March 23 last year.

An inquest held at Taunton's Shire Hall last week heard Mrs Edwards had been unwell for two weeks, but her kidney problems had not been diagnosed because she showed no symptoms.

Instead GP Dr Richard Eve had diagnosed a severe throat infection.

However, the day before her death the surgery received blood test results from Mrs Edwards showing she had dangerously high levels of potassium - a sign of kidney problems.

But due to several breakdowns in communication at the surgery a request to contact Mrs Edwards urgently when the results came in was forgotten after several phone calls went unanswered, and the results were not highlighted to Dr Eve before he saw her on the day of her death.

Professor Terry Feest, of Southmead Hospital, Bristol, told the inquest had the surgery got hold of Mrs Edwards anytime up to 8am on the day of her death, there was a high chance she would have not died.

Speaking after the inquest Mrs Edwards son Philip said: "From our point of view nothing is going to bring our mum back and we feel very let down.

"It is very shocking it was allowed to happen, but we are pleased the surgery now has procedures in place to prevent it happening again.

"However, as Mr Rose said, this could happen in any surgery in the country and we are very concerned that another family may have to go through what we have.

"It is such a basic thing and it is something we would like to have looked at."

Giving a narrative verdict that Mrs Edwards died of heart failure caused by renal failure, West Somerset coroner Michael Rose said: "In my opinion three mistakes were made by the surgery.

"First they failed to contact Mrs Edwards the day before her death and this was not passed on to the doctor who requested to see her.

"Second the doctor who had made the request forgot about it and there was no system in place to remind him and finally the system was not effective so Mr Eve was not made aware of Mrs Edwards test results before he saw her on the morning of her death."

Since Mrs Edwards's death the Crown Medical Centre had changed its communications procedures.