Bradford Royal Infirmary has apologised to a family after a cannula on their daughter's hand "exploded" – leaving her with serious scarring.

The hospital carried out an investigation into the incident and has identified a number of actions to be taken to prevent a repeat.

Hospital chiefs have also offered to hold a face-to-face meeting with the Bradford family, who wish to remain anonymous, if they still have any concerns. The family said the incident had caused them“stress and anxiety.”

They said their daughter, aged 16 months at the time, suffered a febrile seizure - a fit that may involve a child twitching and even temporarily losing consciousness - in April 2018. Although they can be frightening for a parent, the child will usually make a quick and full recovery. After the seizure, she was taken to BRI’s A&E department, where the family claimed “no one was communicating with us."

"It was very rushed and they were clearly short staffed,”

Their daughter had both hands bandaged with cannulas, before her mother noticed they had turned a purple colour underneath them. One cannula had "exploded", she says, which caused an extravasation injury, which her daughter is still scarred from today. The family claimed that hospital staff said their daughter had the scar before, and that she had come in like that. The family also said the hospital lacked an extravasation kit, which was needed for their daughter’s treatment, while they also say they were forced to sit on the hospital floor due to how “packed” it was.

“We made complaints to the hospital, and they were really patronising over the phone. They even told me that our daughter's injury was common, but we put in a Freedom of Information request to BRI and found that she was only the second patient to have had it.”

In a letter of complaint sent to BRI, seen by the Telegraph & Argus, the family wrote: “Whilst at A&E, clinical staff responded to my daughter’s symptoms by immediately administering drugs via a tube inserted in her mouth.

"The whole process was extremely rushed without any explanation given as to what was being done.”

Their daughter was sedated and had a CT scan.

“There was no explanation given as to the purpose of the scan and no consent was requested”, the family claim.

“Our daughter had two cannulas placed on either hand. Both were bandaged and the bandages remained whilst she was taken for the CT scan. When we visited her after the CT scan we observed that her hands were still bandaged and when the doctor removed the bandage we were immediately shocked to notice that her hand surrounding the cannula area was discoloured and had turned dark purple.

In the letter, the family also describe one staff member at BRI as being “extremely rude and condescending” and said they seek an “apology for the undue stress and anxiety which our family were subjected to.”

A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have been in contact with [name of family] on several occasions since this incident occurred and have expressed our sincere apologies for the difficulties they experienced while their daughter was under the care of the Trust.

“We carried out an investigation into the events surrounding their daughter’s injury and identified a number of actions to be taken by the Trust to ensure similar incidents do not reoccur.

“Under the NHS duty of candour process the family was sent a copy of the investigation report and its recommendations. We have also offered to arrange a meeting between the family and a clinician to discuss these issues in person but have not been able to arrange a mutually convenient date with them.

“Our Trust aims to provide high quality care and an excellent patient experience for everyone who is treated at our hospitals, and take all complaints extremely seriously and investigate issues raised fully. In this case we feel we have done everything we can to explain what happened and put actions in place to prevent a reoccurance. We continue to be willing to meet with the family if there are outstanding concerns.

“We are very sorry for the distress caused to the family but we do not believe there is any further information we can provide in response to their concerns. We have respectfully advised them of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman if they wish to take this matter further.”