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A woman who needed specialist surgery for a brain haemorrhage died after a delay in finding an intensive care bed, a coroner has said.

Surrey doctors asked for an immediate transfer for Mary Muldowney but several units had no beds available last July.

She later had surgery at the Royal London Hospital, but did not survive.

Coroner Mary Hassell said a prompt transfer could have saved the Crawley patient. NHS chief Sir Bruce Keogh said a serious safety issue had been raised.

Ms Muldowney, 57, was first admitted to East Surrey Hospital with a suspected brain bleed and after a scan showed heavy bleeds, doctors requested an immediate transfer to a neurosurgical unit.

Three units - St George's and King's College hospitals in London and the Royal Sussex in Brighton - refused.

Other hospitals also said they had no available intensive care beds.

'Desperate plea'

In a letter to NHS England chiefs, Ms Hassell wrote: "In desperation, knowing of the neurosurgical expertise of a former colleague, one of the East Surrey Hospital doctors went out of area and rang a consultant neurosurgeon at the Royal London Hospital (RLH).

"Ms Muldowney was transferred to the RLH and taken straight to theatre at 4.40pm.

"Unfortunately, her pupils had become fixed and dilated in the ambulance during transfer to the RLH and surgery did not save her.

"If she had been transferred promptly, it probably would have."

The inner north London coroner recorded a narrative verdict.

Sir Bruce said he was "very sorry" to hear of the circumstances.

He said the process of securing a bed added a delay of just less than two hours.

He also said there was a clear "difference in perspective" between doctors at East Surrey and St George's, and a meeting would be held between clinicians at the units.

The findings would be fed into broader work on how patients are referred between hospitals, he added.