Neglect by a hospital led to the death of a toddler who was left waiting days for emergency surgery, an inquest has found.

Kayden Urmston-Bancroft, aged 20 months, was admitted to the Royal Manchester children's hospital on 12 April 2016 for surgery on a diaphragmatic hernia but went into cardiac arrest on 15 April, dying two days later.

On Thursday, the coroner Angharad Davies found Kayden died of natural causes, contributed to by neglect.

She said the unacceptable delay in the operation was sufficiently serious to amount to a gross failure.

Davies identified missed opportunities to perform the surgery and said there were “a number of serious and basic failings which meant Kayden was not operated on that week”.

The four-day inquest heard that the toddler, from Stockport, had been transferred from Stepping Hill hospital and placed on a list of patients requiring emergency surgery.

His medical notes said there was no bed available in the hospital’s high dependency unit (HDU) at the Royal Manchester, so he was not able to have the operation.

The notes said his mother, Shannon Bancroft, was “very upset” by the delay, but recorded that she was told by his consultant that Kayden remained well.

A report compiled after his death showed a bed was not requested until midday on 15 April and records showed there had been three beds available that day.

The court heard that the consultant Mohamed Shoukry had thought the bed for Kayden had been taken by another emergency.

Davies said: “It is inexplicable to me why Mr Shoukry was under the impression that there was no HDU bed available on Friday.”

She said there had been a “basic, fundamental communication problem” as well as “confusion” over which consultant had responsibility for Kayden's care.

In a statement, the boy’s family said: “Kayden's death has devastated our family. He has left a huge hole that cannot be filled and we miss him every day.”

They added: “You take your child to hospital and you think everything will be all right, that they'll be able to make them better. We put Kayden's life in their hands and they let us down in the worst way possible.

“We begged them to help him over and over, but instead we had to watch him fade away. He died in pain and that's the thing I don't think we can ever forgive.”

Stephen Clarkson, a lawyer representing the family, said: “This is a highly respected children's hospital, but what we have heard is evidence of a disorganised system where certain staff were unaware of procedure and who was in charge.

“What resulted was that no one took accountability for Kayden's care until, tragically, it was too late.”

Prof Bob Pearson, a spokesman for Manchester University NHS foundation trust, which runs the children’s hospital, said: “We offer our sincere condolences to Kayden’s family and profound apologies for the lapse in standards which led to his death. The trust accepts the findings and conclusions of the coroner.

“As soon as Kayden died, we launched a rigorous and wide-ranging investigation to establish what had happened and put in place measures to ensure this does not happen again.

“We are grateful to the coroner for recognising the work undertaken by the trust and we wish to reassure the public that patient safety is our top priority.”