A PENSIONER died when nurses accidentally injected him with a massive overdose of morphine, an inquest was told.

Police launched a criminal investigation into the case of 80-year-old William Howard but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute the staff involved..

However, health bosses conducted a review of proceedures at Blackburn's Queens Park Hospital after it was revealed he was given 24 hours-worth of the drug in just over an hour.

Coroner Michael Singleton ruled there wasn't enough evidence for a case of unlawful killing and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest heard that Mr Howard, of John Wall Court, Clitheroe, was admitted to hospital on January 26, 2004, suffering from terminal cancer.

He was too ill for treatment but doctors decided to make him more comfortable through painkillers and sedatives.

The hearing was told that he was hooked up to a syringe driver - a computerized machine that automatically administers drugs - which should have injected him with a morphine-based solution over 24 hours.

But staff nurses Wendy Rogers and Diana King entered the wrong dose and rate of injection into the machine on February 2, the inquest heard.

As a result, Mr Howard received a whole day's worth of morphine in just 70 minutes, the inquest was told.

A post mortem examination revealed that he died from a massive overdose.

Neither Mrs Rogers, of Pine Close, Rishton, or Mrs King, of Belthorn Road, Belthorn, were disciplined by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

However, in the weeks after the incident both were barred from using a syringe driver until they had received further training. All staff received extra training on the machine in the months after the incident.

John Howard, Mr Howard's son said that he was alone with his father - a retired local government grants officer - when he heard the syringe driver emit a long continuous beeping sound.

He added: "It sounded off but nobody came into the room. I went to find a nurse and when she saw the machine she said 'Oh, I did not realise that'.

"She went to get a ward sister and they came back and stopped the machine bleeping. I remember he passed away a short time later."

Michael Singleton, coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, said: "I do not believe that I can be satisfied to be sure that the activity of one person or body was so grossly negligent that it must be deemed to be criminal.

"Therefore, I reject a conclusion of unlawful killing.

"I can exclude natural causes, clearly no-one intended to bring about his demise and there is no suggestion that this was some kind of mercy killing.

"On the balance of probabilities it was accidental death."

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs King said she felt for the dead man's family. She said: "I'm just relieved the family have finally got some closure.

"They have been wonderful throughout all of this. It can't have been easy for them."

Jo Cubbon, chief executive of the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said: "I would like to express my sincere condolencies to the Howard family. Following Mr Howard's death the Trust introduced additional training for all staff in the safe use of equipment.

"We accept the coroner's findings and in the light of this verdict we will undertake a further review of existing systems and procedures."