A 10-year-old girl with a fear of needles may not get a meningitis jab to protect her from the killer disease because her family and health officials cannot agree on somewhere for it to take place.

Danielle McGuinness, from Skipton, was so frightened of having the jab at a school last Monday that she fought off two adults to get away. She was crying and shouting so much she was asked to leave in case she scared other children.

The Greatwood Community Primary School pupil eventually agreed to allow her mother and grandmother to make inquiries into her having the immunisation in the comfort of her own home.

Susan Wright, her grandmother, spoke to several people at Skipton General Hospital, including the infectious diseases nurse and paediatric doctor, but they said Danielle could not have the jab at home. Mrs Wright then suggested to Airedale NHS Trust planning manager John Sutcliffe that a relative - a practice nurse in Keighley with 28 years' experience - came to the house to do the injection. She was told it could only be done at the Keighley surgery or at Skipton General Hospital, however. The injection could not be given at home because a shock pack had to be available in case the child went into anaphylactic shock.

"She had proved that she would not have it done at the school so why would she have it done at the hospital?" said Mrs Wright.

"My husband is livid as it puts the girl's life at risk. Surely there must be some other way when a child is so frightened she would have jumped out of the window.

"They do not have a back up system to help a child like that."

NHS Trust manager Mr Sutcliffe said he had worked until Friday evening to sort out the problem but it seemed the family did not want to work with him. He had been unsure of the relative undertaking the procedure at the house because she was not employed by the trust. Mr Sutcliffe said he had tried to offer a number of solutions to the family and had even offered to transport the child himself to the Keighley surgery for the immunisation, but none of these seemed acceptable.

Community Health Services manager Carol Donaldson said it would be dangerous for Danielle to have the injection at home in case something went wrong, and that two nurses needed to be on hand. She said the Airedale NHS Trust would be happy organise something out of hours and out of a clinical environment. She added: "It is a phobia of needles not hospitals. I am still very reluctant to do it at home because of the risk."