An investigation is under way after hospital staff set the wrong
arm of a two-year-old in plaster.
Southampton General Hospital apologised over the "extremely
rare" error. Honey Wight was taken to the
accident and emergency department at the hospital by mother
Katie after she jumped off a slide and hurt her left arm.
Medics X-rayed the arm and found the youngster had chipped a
bone. But nurses plastered the right arm by mistake and sent the
family home.
Ms Wight, 29, said she did not notice the mistake until the next
day because her daughter fell asleep in the car and she put her
straight to bed.
"I was so angry. I just couldn't believe it," she told the
Southern Daily Echo.
"The nurse was there and it said 'left elbow' but she put it on
the right arm. It is just crazy.
"I did not even notice. I was busy singing songs to her, trying
to distract her."
The mother said that staff even plastered the correct left arm
of Honey's teddy bear to help calm her nerves.
She has since taken her daughter back to the and the mistake was
corrected.
Dr Michael Marsh, the hospital's medical director, said: "We are
deeply sorry to Honey and her family. Incidents like this are
extremely rare and we will be carrying out a full investigation
into how it happened."