A scathing report into the death of a family man on a hospital trolley has blamed medical staff and managers.

Hospital staff have been slammed in a public inquiry report into the tragic death of 74-year-old forgotton patient, Thomas Rogers, who spent nine hours on a trolley in a chaotic casualty unit.

Medical staff repeatedly ignored the Tyneside-born grandad as he lay confused and in pain in a corridor at Whipps Cross Hospital, East London.

And a nurse only discovered he was dead when she went to move the trolley.

The report into the tragedy blasted doctors for failing to assess the former engineer when he was brought into casualty.

The inquiry found that if he had been seen within an hour of arriving at the hospital he may not have died.

Fifteen recommendations for improvements were made and the report said the overstretched A&E department allowed 55 other patients, who were classified as being of lower priority, to be treated before Mr Rogers.

His son Alan, 52, from Fenham, Newcastle, said: "We are very bitter and angry that the report says our father still could be alive today if he had been seen by a doctor."

Mr Rogers, originally from Denton Burn, Newcastle, was taken to hospital after collapsing at home in Woodford Green, Essex.

He had fallen unconcious against a radiator, badly burning his arm, and had lain for some time before being found by a friend at his sheltered accommodation. Mr Rogers died from an abdominal aneurysm which may have been spotted if it had been diagnosed by a doctor.

Mr Rogers, an engineer, served in Palestine and Greece in the Durham Light Infantry Brigade.

He married his wife Joyce in 1948 and the couple rented room s from an aunt in Gateshead.