THE son of a 79-year-old man who died in York Hospital has told an inquest some of the treatment his father received was good, while some was shocking.

Roland Wilson, from Sheriff Hutton, near York, died in January, four months after he was seriously injured in a crash on the A64 near Whitwell-on-the- Hill. Mr Wilson had pulled out of a minor junction into the path of an oncoming car on the dual carriageway.

Pathologist Dr Daniel Scott told the inquest in Northallerton Mr Wilson had a traumatic brain injury, but also had heart failure, developing pneumonia and thrombosis.

He said: “It was a very long and complex case,” with the accident contributing to the cause of death.

The inquest was told Mr Wilson was initially treated at Hull Royal Infirmary, and within weeks, transferred to the orthopaedic ward at York Hospital, but he became increasingly confused and could be aggressive.

His son George Wilson, from York, told the inquest his father had been very active before the crash, and afterwards he had appeared to be making progress with plans made for him to return home. But he then started to go downhill and it became an issue that the ward wasn’t the best place for him.

He said small scratches on his legs became large open sores and his father had also fallen out of bed. Eventually he went to see the hospital chief executive.

“There didn’t seem to be coordinated care, there was confusion over who was doing what, I was grasping at straws and trying to save my dad’s life. Overall I was less than happy, there was some good treatment, but there was some shocking treatment. " Mr Wilson told the inquest.

Consultant James Stanley said he had empathy with Mr Wilson’s concerns that the orthopaedic ward was not the best one for his father, but it was a very complicated case and they felt the patient’s confusion could have been increased by moving him. “I don’t think his treatment was detrimented on our ward, I think his problems would have been very complicated for any ward,” he said.

Mr Wilson was eventually transferred to a geriatric ward days before his death.

Coroner Michael Oakley recorded a narrative conclusion that Mr Wilson died from various medical conditions combined with the effects of a road traffic collision.