Neglect played a part in the death of an elderly Eastbourne care home resident, a coroner has ruled.

Kingsley Mitchell, 79, died in April from bronchial pneumonia at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

But an inquest heard the former photographer also had a 20cm open abscess on his left hip, exposing two metal pins from a previous hip operation, which directly contributed to his death.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze questioned staff at the Bendigo Nursing Home in Arundel Road, Eastbourne, and Mr Mitchell's GP, Dr Thomas Richardson.

He said he found it difficult to believe the pressure sore had gone undetected when staff regularly changed Mr Mitchell's incontinence pads.

Mr Craze said: "There were opportunities when nurses could have observed his hip. It's difficult to remove an incontinence pad without seeing the whole of the groin and lower area.

"I still can't understand why nobody noticed what by February 14 was a severe wound."

Staff at the home said they had noticed a red patch on Mr Mitchell's hip on February 13 and telephoned Dr Richardson.

Although the GP could not remember the exact day he visited the home, he told the coroner he believed it was the following day, by which time the pressure sore had become an open abscess.

The inquest heard Dr Richardson visited Mr Mitchell again on April 11 and told nursing staff he had to be moved to a special air mattress to ease bedsores.

Mr Craze heard that at this point, although the wound had been treated by staff, the tips of the metal pins were exposed.

Mr Mitchell's sister, Sylvia Hill, of Bolsover Road, Eastbourne, told the court she had taken her brother out on April 17.

She said: "I thought he was not at all well and very depressed. He was different. He was very tense."

The court heard Mrs Hill was telephoned by the care home three days later to be told her brother's health had deteriorated.

She told the court she insisted her brother was taken into hospital, where he died a week later.

Pathologist Geraldine Martin told the inquest she had never seen an abscess the size and severity of Mr Mitchell's in her career.

She said the wound would have affected Mr Mitchell's ability to fight off pneumonia.

Mr Craze delivered a verdict of death by natural causes but added: "If there has been such a gross failure and neglect has played a part in his death - which it has in this case - then it would be right to add the words 'contributed to by neglect'.

"I have no great doubt in this case that it's right for me to come to such a verdict."

Mr Craze said he would forward the findings of the inquest to the National Care Standards Commission.