The hospital has apologised to the family

Nicholas Hitchen was treated in the former Bury General Hospital following the crash in June 2001 where he lost consciousness and later died.

A post-mortem examination revealed he had 18 undiagnosed broken bones.

The trust has agreed undisclosed damages, but said it is unlikely surgery would have saved his life.

What we really want out of this is that now Fairfield Hospital does have a proper 24 hour on call trauma team that really do know what they are doing Christine Hitchen

A statement from the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust apologised to the family and said it "accepts that there were shortcomings with the standards of care".

It added new procedures for the management of major trauma have been implemented.

Mr Hitchen's mother, Christine, said compensation was not the family's main concern.

"The doctors assured us that the X-rays they had taken showed no fractures and that there was nothing to worry about, that there were not life threatening injuries," she said.

"The money doesn't compensate us in any way for Nicholas' death.

Lost control

"What we really want out of this is that now Fairfield Hospital does have a proper 24 hour on call trauma team that really do know what they are doing.

"Hopefully if they do have the right facilities and right doctors with the expertise and knowledge to identify the problems that road traffic accident victims have then it is a good thing."

Mr Hitchen lost control of his car and hit metal railings on Crostons Road in Bury.

He was conscious as he was taken to the accident and emergency unit at Fairfield General Hospital, but his condition began to deteriorate and he died during the night with his family at his bedside.

The events surrounding his death were also investigated under the NHS complaints procedure and by independent clinical assessors.