STAFF at Whipps Cross University Hospital could have acted faster to diagnose a fatal blood clot on an alcoholic's brain, an inquest heard this week.

Thomas Connelly, of Downsfield Road, Walthamstow, died on August 8 after falling over in Palmerston Road two days earlier.

The 44-year-old Glaswegian had drunk four cans of Tenants Super-T lager. He reluctantly agreed to be taken to Whipps Cross by paramedics.

A senior consultant criticised his colleagues during the inquest at Walthamstow Coroner's Court on Monday morning.

As Mr Connelly's sister Amelia looked on, Dr Martin Hunt said he was surprised that a vital head scan he ordered, which eventually determined Mr Connelly had suffered a sub-dural haematoma, took so long to complete.

Hospital staff said the father-of-one, who was regularly admitted for alcoholism, consistently fought attempts to treat him after the fall.

Senior staff nurse Arnold Maneze said he saw Mr Connelly fall over again while trying to get out of a chair in the A&E department on August 7. He suffered a cut to his right eyebrow. It was not determined which of the two falls caused the blood clot that killed him.

Dr Hunt said: "Mr Connelly was a particularly difficult customer at times and could be extremely abusive to doctors. I've treated him a few times.

"I came across him in the resuscitation room. He was being treated by two junior doctors who had only been working at the hospital for a short time and did not know his history.

"I saw the cut on his eyebrow and asked for a further exam, a CT scan of his head, to be done straight away. I was quite busy that night and was surprised to see he hadn't had the exam when I went back to see him about two-and-a-half hours later.

"There were a number of problems in the management of this particular patient. He should have been admitted but he stayed in the A&E. There were two free beds in the Emergency Medicine Department.

"Since this particular incident we don't have people staying in A&E overnight."

Mr Connelly was transferred to a specialist neurological hospital in central London after the discovery of the blood clot but died hours later. Medical experts said that the delays and management problems would have had little impact on the final outcome.

Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "No doctor likes to lose a patient, especially one whom they come to know. Although the outcome following the fall wouldn't have changed without the problems, it is little comfort to those who have lost him.

"I'm satisfied that the doctor has addressed these problems. This was an unintended act with an unintended consequence. He died as a result of an accident."

Mr Connelly's sister Amelia, from Tower Bridge, said that she was not close to her brother and did not want to comment directly on the Whipps Cross team.

The 40-year-old said: "I think he was an accident waiting to happen. I heard about his death for the first time two weeks afterwards because I was on holiday at the time.

"My brother was an alcoholic. This is the first time I've heard about what happened in the hospital. I guess that's why it went to coroner's court."