TAUNTON'S Musgrove Park Hospital has been cleared of any wrongdoing following an inquest into the death of an 87-year-old man from pneumonia.

Roland Holbrow was not seen for more than five hours after being admitted to the hospital on August 13.

West Somerset coroner Michael Rose heard how Mr Holbrow was admitted to the hospital’s Eliot Ward at about 7.15pm, but was not seen by the junior doctor on duty until after midnight.

During this time Mr Holbrow was constantly monitored by nurses and one of them was so concerned about his breathing that she repeatedly called for a doctor.

He already had MRSA and C. difficile and was kept in a separate room so he could not pass any infection to other patients.

However by the time he was seen by a doctor Mr Holbrow had died of pneumonia.

Mr Rose said there was not a great deal to inspire confidence in terms of the "traffic lights" system that denoted the urgency of care for patients.

He also referred to a previous inquest he had presided over in which he heard one junior doctor at the hospital had been in charge of 100 patients over the course of one night.

Despite his concerns that Mr Holbrow’s move to Eliot Ward meant he was “out of sight, out of mind”, the coroner ruled that the deceased died of natural causes and that his passing was not the fault of hospital staff.

In summing up his decision, he said: “The staff up there did their best and didn’t get the calls back they needed from the doctor, who was himself struggling through his own list of patients.”

For more information, see this Thursday’s Gazette.