A DELAY in retrieving vital medical equipment and a lack of staff training could have played a part in the death of a catering manager at an Oxford hospital, an inquest has heard.

Doctors were forced to wait minutes for a stitch cutter in order to clear the airways of Michelle Ginsburg-Smith, who had suffered a cardiac arrest just hours after undergoing a thyroid removal operation at the Churchill Hospital.

Following the cardiac arrest in the early hours of July 14, 2017, Mrs Ginsburg-Smith, who lived in Oxford with her husband Mark Ginsburg, was left with serious brain damage and on life support.

In February this year a High Court judge gave clinicians permission to switch off her life support, in agreement with her loved ones.

Mr Ginsburg joined the first day of a two-day inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court today.

The hearing was told today how Mrs Ginsburg-Smith, 50, had been sent to a recovery ward at the hospital which, unlike a neighbouring ward, did not keep 'thyroidectomy boxes' at the patient bedside - a box of equipment, including stitch cutters, which can be used to treat patients in the event of a post-surgical bleed.

It is believed Mrs Ginsburg-Smith's airways were blocked for at least four minutes.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Dr Helen Cronshaw, who had been the first of the cardiac team to respond to the emergency, recounted the frantic efforts of staff to clear the airways before realising the neck wound would have to be opened.

She said: "I said 'I just need something sharp', then about one minute later someone brought me a stitch cutter and I just took a deep breath and opened the neck."

Circulation was restored 'almost immediately after', the inquest heard.

However, it was also revealed that the type of stitches used by the surgeon on Mrs Ginsburg-Smith could have been removed using just the fingers, something medical staff had not received training on.

The inquest also heard how the risk of a post-operating bleed (which affects around one in 50 patients) had not been discussed with Mrs Ginsburg-Smith prior to her agreeing to undergo the elective procedure.

Surgeon Gregory Sadler said Oxford University Hospitals had since initiated a wide-reaching training programme for staff to ensure similar situations did not arise.

Though Mr Sadler accepted this would 'never make up for the hole that has been left in Mark and Michelle's family'.

Assistant coroner for Oxfordshire Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said Mrs Ginsburg-Smith's death had been 'devastating' for the family and had had 'profound repercussions' for the clinical staff involved.

The inquest will continue tomorrow.