Patient found with fatal injuries

Mr Brown was found at the foot of the ward's fire escape

Investigations are under way into how an elderly cancer patient ended up injured and dying in hospital grounds after disappearing from a ward.

William Brown, 77, was being treated for ear cancer at Christie Hospital in Withington, South Manchester, when he vanished on Monday morning.

Staff found him outside suffering from chest injuries an hour later. He later died in Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The hospital, coroner and Health and Safety Executive are all investigating.

Mr Brown, from Congleton, was found lying at the foot of the ward's fire escape by a member of staff at 0820 GMT.

He had last been seen watching television about an hour earlier at 0720 GMT.

We have never had a case like this before at the Christie Hospital spokeswoman

The hospital's internal investigation will look into how Mr Brown was injured and how he left unnoticed.

"We are very distressed about the death of William Brown and upset for his family," a hospital spokeswoman said.

"As soon as we were informed of his death we launched an internal investigation."

Hospital officials have already been in touch with the family of Mr Brown about the scope of its investigation.

Family thoughts

Its director of nursing and governance is due to meet family members on Friday to share the investigation's preliminary findings.

"The care of our patients is of the utmost importance to us and we go to great lengths to ensure every patient is closely monitored and given the best possible treatment and care," the spokeswoman added.

"We have never had a case like this before at the Christie.

"At this early stage it is impossible to fully understand what happened and why, but if the results of the investigation and coroner's inquest indicate that enhanced measures can be put in place to ensure that it never happens again, then we will implement these immediately.

"Our thoughts are with Mrs Brown and her family at this difficult time."