An elderly man with dementia who died two weeks after he was admitted to Watford General was not the victim of hospital neglect, a coroner has ruled.

Lionel Brown died on October 12, last year, having been admitted to hospital on his GP's advice with a chest infection.

The 84-year-old, of Warren Road, in Bushey Heath, deteriorated quickly and died of pneumonia 13 days after he was sent to hospital.

An inquest into his death heard nurses at Watford General discovered Mr Brown, who suffered from dementia, to be dehydrated when he was admitted.

He was not treated with antibiotics after an x-ray showing no sign of infection on Mr Brown's chest.

However, the pensioner's condition deteriorated and he gradually became less responsive to nurses at the Vicarage Road hospital.

The coroner, Edward Thomas, was told Mr Brown had fallen several times before he was admitted to hospital and a post-mortem found he had severe bruising to his brain.

Dr Romain, a nurse at the hospital, told the court: “When you have a fall, bleeding starts and your conscious levels change.

“It is a gradual deterioration. So when Mr Brown came in he was able to communicate and he was able to communicate with the ambulance staff.”

She said Mr Brown became very drowsy and was bedridden, which led to him catching pneumonia.

In conclusion, Mr Thomas said: “Mr Brown had a number of falls and swelling took time to develop. There is a gradual deterioration.

“It may well have been that he had one fall that caused the subdural haematoma. Having another fall would have made the first subdural haematoma even worse.

“Often, when people are in that situation their conscious levels deteriorated. It is at that time that pneumonia develops and it is a very common cause of death when someone is unresponsive and unconscious towards the end of their life.”

He told Mr Brown's widow he was very sorry she had to watch her husband's deterioration, but was told her doctors were unable to do anything to help him.

He recorded Mr Brown died of accidental death.