Robert Ackroyd, 40, of Chapel Street, Bridlington, died from a blood clot on his brain on Christmas Eve 2000.

He had spent seven days in Bridlington hospital - despite an urgent request from senior medical staff to have him transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary for a CAT scan.

When the former steelworker was found unconscious in his bed by nurses on 19 December, the "urgent" scan had still not been performed.

Mr Ackroyd was admitted to the hospital on 13 December after collapsing at home.

Dr Krishna Murthy told the inquest he immediately asked for a CAT scan because the father-of-two suffered from epilepsy and may have fallen.

But when Dr Murthy returned from leave a week later he found him in a coma still waiting for a brain scan.

He was eventually transferred to Hull by ambulance "against the advice" of neurosurgeons at the Royal Infirmary.

A scan immediately picked up the intra-cranial bleed that Dr Murthy had suspected - but he died four days after surgery.

The inquest continues.