HOSPITAL managers have apologised to the family of a pensioner who lay dead for more than five hours while his distraught relatives were repeatedly assured he had not been admitted as a patient.

The frantic family, who spent hours roaming the streets to find their missing relative, made five calls to the hospital hoping to find the 66-year-old but were told each time that he was not there.

And the mix-up was not resolved until the deceased's sons were taken to the mortuary to see the body of a man with the same surname, to reassure them it was someone else only to discover it was their father.

Now staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital have launched a full investigation and promised the bereaved family that changes will be introduced to ensure the mistake never happens again.

Edward Richardson died in the street near his home in Eastbourne Road, Darlington, after suffering a heart attack.

His body was found and taken to the accident and emergency department of the Memorial Hospital, but relatives were not informed and launched their own search for their father.

Mr Richardson's son, Terry, said: "The family was put through unbearable torment. My mother, Irene, is still absolutely devastated by all this.

"She talks about what has happened every day. I will pursue this to the end."

Mr Richardson had left home to park his car in a garage that was five minutes drive away. When he did not return after two hours, his family called the police and hospital.

Terry said: "My father would just not go off anywhere without us knowing, so we knew that something must have happened."

The family contacted the hospital, but were assured on five occasions that no one of their father's description had been admitted.

Staff did tell the family that a patient named Richardson had been admitted but that he lived at a different address in Eastbourne Road and had a different date of birth.

Eventually, Terry and his brother, Stephen, were taken into the mortuary where they discovered the truth.

The grieving brothers were handed a bag containing their father's belongings included his driving licence with full name, address and date of birth.

Terry said: "The hospital has since told us that if somebody is brought in and is dead on arrival, then they are not classed as hospital admissions and they are just sent to the morgue.

"They said his details would not be on file at admissions. Whether they have a separate file for bodies, I do not know."

Two months after his death, just days before Christmas, the family say they are still waiting for a detailed explanation.

Laura Robson, director of Nursing and Community Services at South Durham NHS Health Trust, said: "We are extremely sorry for what must have been a terribly distressing experience.

"The systems that are in place clearly failed Mr Richardson and his family, and we are currently looking closely at our procedures and implementing changes to ensure something like this does not happen again."