Doctors said this girl had a sprain. Then her parents saw the X- ray. . .
Relatives’ anger at two shocking blunders made by the same hospital
A GIRL of seven was sent home from hospital after staff failed to spot she had broken her arm.
Abigail Thomas, who had fallen from her horse, was told it was only bruised and sprained and would soon get better.
She was in agony for a week before staff at another hospital X-rayed her and found the bone had split and the ball had come out of the socket.
Gloucestershire Royal Hospital has now apologised to Abigail and her parents Simon and Theresa for the ‘pain and distress’.
Mrs Thomas, from Parkend in the Forest of Dean, said her daughter had been having one of her regular riding lessons when the accident happened.
‘For some reason the pony went one way and she went the other,’ she said. ‘She hit the ground with a big thud and she was in a lot of pain.
‘We went to Lydney Hospital with her and they said they thought it might be broken so they sent us to the casualty unit at Gloucester.
‘She had X-rays taken there and they said there was no fracture, it was just bruised and maybe sprained. They told us that we should take her sling off when it had settled in a few days and then make sure she kept it moving.
‘ Sometimes she would say, “ But Mummy, I can’t” and I would make her move it, thinking it was for her own good.
‘Once I shouted at her for not doing it. I even sent her back to school and told her teacher to make her move her arm. Now I feel so guilty for doing it.’
When Abigail’s arm failed to improve after a week, the family GP sent her back to Lydney for another X-ray.
Mrs Thomas said: ‘They saw immediately she had a bad fracture of the upper arm bone, about three inches from the top of the ball joint. It is broken in two with a jagged edge.
‘ It was not spotted the first time because they didn’t incorporate her shoulder in the X-rays, they just looked at the arm lower down.
‘We can’t believe you can take a girl to a casualty unit after a fall from a horse and they don’t do full X- rays of the painful area.’
She added: ‘We have been to the fracture clinic and the doctor there says there is no treatment available for such an injury and it will heal itself. My husband and I can’t believe there is nothing they can do.’ A spokesman for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘The doctor has reassured Abigail and her family there will be no long-term problems with her shoulder and arm and she will be able to ride again by March.’