Anger as dad claims daughter '˜sent home with broken leg'

A Portadown dad has spoken of his anger and disbelief after his 14-year-old daughter was allegedly sent home from Craigavon's Emergency Department with a broken leg after being told it was just a bad sprain.
Natasha Hyde's swollen and bruised lower leg. INPT22-010Natasha Hyde's swollen and bruised lower leg. INPT22-010
Natasha Hyde's swollen and bruised lower leg. INPT22-010

Natasha Hyde, a third year pupil at Clounagh Junior High School, went over on her ankle on Monday afternoon and was taken to the Emergency Department by her mum Juanita.

According to dad Chris, the teenager was x-rayed and then seen again in the treatment room, where she was informed she had a badly sprained ankle.

It was a week later, on the following Monday, that her parents took her to the South Tyrone Minor Injuries Unit in Dungannon after becoming concerned that the swelling hadn’t gone down and the bruising was very bad.

Said Chris, “They x-rayed her and said it was broken. A&E was packed last Monday but that’s no excuse for my daughter being sent home with a broken leg.

“She had gone back to school that week and was using a crutch to get about, not realising it was broken. If she had gone over on it again, she could have ended up in hospital getting an operation.”

Natasha, who is due to start Portadown College in September, had her leg put in plaster from her toes to her knee at Dungannon and, said her dad, was in shock at what had happened.

He added, “I was very, very angry. If this has happened to my daughter how many other parents has it happened to?”

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust confirmed it had received a complaint from Mr Hyde and that an investigation would be carried out and a response issued after it was completed.

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