Mr Roskell, aged 65, went missing from Harrogate Hospital on the 3 November 2012, where he was receiving treatment as a patient.He was subsequently found deceased in woodlands near Wetherby.
An inquest into his death on heard he had previously tried to escape from the hospital, and was suffering from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
The coroner said there were failures in the hospital’s care of a vulnerable patient, and that there was neglect.
The coroner retured a narrative verdict on 30 January 2014 into Mr Roskell’s death.
A narrative is a factual statement of the circumstances surrounding someone’s death, without attributing the cause to an individual.
Dr David Scullion, Medical Director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: We would like to express our deepest condolences and sincere apologies to the family of Mr Roskell. We accept the findings of the Coroner and acknowledge his conclusion.
Our investigation into the death of Mr Roskell has led to a number of initiatives to improve the safety of patients, which we consider to be of paramount importance.
We have already increased the number of nurses working on wards that care for elderly patients, where people who are confused are most likely to be accommodated, and addressed the security issues arising from this tragic incident.
