A car crash victim was sent home from hospital with a crushed vertebra and a needle hanging out of her arm, after staff failed to detect the damage done to her spine.

Paula Elliot, 22, was rushed to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, after a car smash, in Dartford, just before 1am on Thursday, May 9.

Doctors told her she had broken three ribs and her collar-bone and, although she complained of back pain, she was told it was caused by the damage to her ribs.

Single mum Paula of Hazel Walk, Petts Wood, told the News Shopper she then had a four-hour wait for painkillers before being discharged.

But, as a friend helped her to undress, they realised the needle, used to attach an intravenous drip, was still in her arm.

Paula said: "It was a bit of a scare really. I think I was still in shock so I didn't really take it in.

"I was sent home with a few painkillers and thought I would be OK, but the pain just got worse and worse.

"I was really struggling but I thought it was just my ribs, as Queen Mary's had told me."

By the Saturday, Paula's family were so concerned they called NHS Direct, which sent an ambulance to her home and took her to Bromley Hospital.

When staff tried to find the X-rays taken at Queen Mary's, they could not be located. New shots proved Paula had actually suffered a crushed vertebra in the crash two days earlier.

Doctors suggested a mistake at Sidcup, and placed Paula, who was unable to sit up, in a hospital bed for five days.

Paula, who is now at home but can barely move from her bed, said: "You'd think after a car crash doctors would go over X-rays with a fine tooth comb. How the hell can it happen? That's what I want to know."

A spokesman for Queen Mary's NHS Trust said: "We are very sorry to hear of Miss Elliot's concerns. The hospital takes any concerns about treatment very seriously and any complaint will be fully investigated."

csteel@london.newsquest.co.uk