A man has launched a bitter attack on Airedale Hospital after his elderly mother's fractured leg was allegedly left undetected for a month.

John Burnside says he can hardly believe that doctors mistook a fractured joint for a blood clot.

The hospital is investigating the allegation.

Mr Burnside's attack follows an alleged wrong analysis made on his mother - Elisabeth Burnside - after she was taken to Airedale's casualty department with shooting pains in her right shin earlier this year.

Mrs Burnside says she stayed overnight at Airedale as doctors first believed it was a blood clot causing the pain. But she says the following morning she was discharged after being told her pain was due to arthritis.

"I thought I was going to be given some X-rays but the doctor changed her mind and said I didn't need any or a scan and that an injection in my knee would cure the problem," she says. "I just assumed if she said it was arthritis that's what it was - even though I have never had arthritis in my legs before and thought it couldn't be that. First it was a clot and then suddenly it was arthritis.

"The doctors had me worried sick and all the time I could hardly walk."

After the pain failed to go away, Elisabeth paid a visit to her Bingley doctor last month. She was immediately sent to have it X-rayed and it was found that her bone was fractured. She was then sent to Airedale's fracture unit to have a removable plaster placed on her leg.

"I was walking around with a fractured leg for a month and none of the doctors at Airedale noticed it," she says.

Elisabeth is unsure how her fracture occurred but thinks it could be due to a bad fall she had last year. Her plaster is due to come off next Wednesday.

Mr Burnside, a franchise manager at Walker Farrimond car dealership in Skipton Road, Cross Hills, points out: "If an elderly person goes into hospital I would have thought the first thing a doctor should check is for any broken bones as they tend to be fragile in older people. But to go into hospital with a fracture, stay overnight and then be discharged, still with a fracture, is appalling."

Sue Franks, director of nursing and quality at Airedale, says Elisabeth's complaint is being dealt with and assures her that it should be resolved within the next few weeks.

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