DOCTORS at a south London hospital have been told to be firmer with patients after a pensioner refused to stay overnight and then died of a blood clot.

Retired company director John Insley, aged 86, of Bromley Court, in Sydenham Hill, refused to stay overnight at King's College Hospital after he collapsed outside the haematology clinic.

Staff nurse Nadine Arnolds told Southwark Coroner's Court how she and her colleague picked Mr Insley off the pavement on December 28 last year and took him to A&E.

There he was examined by Dr Sarah Ormony who told him although he had cut his finger he had no serious problems. But when she heard about his blood condition, she said it would be better for him to stay overnight.

The court heard he refused the offer, saying he “would much rather go home”.

At home that night, Mr Insley's son, Robert, visited his father and arranged to pick him up in the morning to take him to the fracture clinic because of his injured finger.

He said in the evening his father had been in pain but was sitting at home enjoying a meal.

The following morning, Mr Insley's son let himself into the house and found his father lying in bed and breathing very slowly. He knew there was something wrong and called an ambulance.

In A&E, a doctor found Mr Insley to be deeply unconscious and suffering from abnormal breathing and a fast heart beat.

She ordered a brain scan which revealed a huge blood clot.

Senior neurologists at King's College were called in and said the injuries Mr Insley sustained in his fall were “unsurvivable” and surgery was pointless.

Mr Insley died in the hospital's intensive care unit later that day.

Southwark deputy coroner Dr Roy Palmer recorded a verdict of accidental death.