AN inquest into the death of Raymond Gilbert Grummett at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital has returned a verdict of death by natural causes contributed to by neglect.

Worcestershire Coroner's Court, on Monday, September 19, ruled that failings in the care of Mr Grummett contributed to his death.

The 76-year-old had become unwell and was admitted into the Alexandra Hospital on October 24 2015.

On November 1 his ‘patient at risk’ score increased and diagnostic blood tests were ordered.

The results of those tests were available in the evening of the same day but were not reviewed by the staff caring for him at that time, or by others during a ward round the following morning, and the fact that he had developed an acute kidney injury was not recognised.

On 3 November Mr Grummett, of Kingsley Avenue, suffered a cardiac arrest and was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit where, despite the efforts of the staff, he declined and died on November 12.

The medical cause of death, confirmed at the inquest, was listed as multi-organ failure, acute kidney failure and right lower lobe lobar pneumonia (a form of the respiratory illness that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (a type of lung disease).

A secondary cause was given as pulmonary carcinoma with metastasis (a secondary cancer of the lungs and ischaemic) and hypertensive heart disease.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers the Alexandra Hospital, said: "We accept the verdict of the coroner and would again like to offer our apologies to Mr Grummett’s family.

"We are very sorry that on this occasion the level of care offered fell below the standards we want for all of our patients. We are improving our systems to recognise when patients conditions are deteriorating, and ensuring that concerns are escalated to the correct staff."

"We have continued to work with our clinical teams to ensure that test results are reviewed when they are available and have invested in systems which provide alerts to ensure that clinicians are made aware immediately of any unexpected abnormal results."

An inquest into his death was opened on November 18 2015 and closed on Monday, September 19.