A GRANDAD whose lungs were washed out with detergent did not die as a result of the error, an inquest has heard.

William Hannah, aged 68, was admitted to Salford Royal Hospital in September 2017 after being hit by a car, suffering from a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures.

While in the hospital, Mr Hannah developed pneumonia and was taken to the critical care unit.

His condition continued to worsen, requiring an emergency lung wash-out with saline to improve his breathing.

During the procedure, a doctor accidentally used detergent instead of saline solution due to a mislabelled bottle.

Immediately following the procedure, Mr Hannah’s condition showed signs of slight improvement but he soon deteriorated rapidly.

The grandfather-of-three died the day after the procedure on September 16.

However, an inquest at Bolton Coroner’s Court yesterday heard that the accident had not caused his death.

Home Office forensic pathologist Michael Parsons gave Mr Hannah’s cause of death as sepsis, which had been caused by his pneumonia and the multiple injuries he had sustained in the crash.

He added that there was no evidence to prove the detergent had contributed “in any significant way” to his death.

Shortly after making the error, the doctor treating Mr Hannah, Dr Jay Naisbitt, realised what he had done when he required the detergent to clean medical equipment used during the procedure.

He attempted to dilute and wash out the 20 milligrams of detergent by pouring 200 milligrams of saline solution into Mr Hannah’s lungs, an action which experts described as being “appropriate” in the circumstances.

The hearing heard that the intervention had been successful in removing much of the detergent, and likely prevented any further damage.

Dr Shironjit Saha, a consultant respiratory physician, told the hearing that had the detergent caused Mr Hannah’s death, he would have expected him to have shown immediate adverse effects, which he did not.

He added: “I would have expected to see the patient get even more critically ill in the short-term and we did not see that.”

Mr Hannah’s condition eventually took a turn for the worse and he died 33 hours later, however, experts said there were many other factors that were likely to have led to his death.

Professor Simon Survarna said: “This man had a lot of other things going wrong for him, his severe fractures and pneumonia.” However, he added that the detergent may have added to his “physiological burden”.

The inquest into Mr Hannah’s death will resume this morning.