HEALTH chiefs are investigating allegations that a Hampshire dad could have been paralysed after medics sent him home with a broken back.

Scott Wilson says staff at Southampton General Hospital misread his X-rays and told him he was suffering from nothing worse than muscle damage.

He claims he was wrongly advised to do certain exercises, which could have resulted in a broken bone severing his spinal cord.

The University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the General, has launched an investigation into Mr Wilson’s complaint.

But the 40-year-old IT consultant has launched legal action against the hospital.

Mr Wilson, of Hollybank Crescent in Hythe, said: “I’ve been contacted on several occasions by the head of the complaints department at Southampton General Hospital.

“A panel is investigating my case and has promised to keep me up-to-date with their progress.

“A leading medical negligence law firm has taken my case on and is running its own investigation to gather all the facts. It’s also sending me to see other medical professionals before taking the matter to court.”

Mr Wilson was attending his daughter’s birthday party at Gang Warily Sports Centre, Blackfield, in February last year when he slipped while attempting a somersault on a bouncy castle.

He said: “I was in more agony that I’ve ever felt in my life.

“But two consultants at the hospital looked at my X-rays and told me I was suffering from muscle damage. I was sent home, even though I couldn’t really walk because I was in so much pain.

“I spent the next 15 days in bed, getting up every 30 minutes to do the exercises I’d been given.

“On February 20 I received a phone call from a consultant who sounded really worried and asked me if I’d been moving, which I had because that’s what I’d been told to do.

“She told me the X-rays had been reviewed.

“I’d severely broken my back and needed to get to hospital straight away. The consultant also told me not to move anymore as I could damage myself further.”

Mr Scott said he was put on a special type of bed and ordered to lie absolutely still.

He added: “After undergoing an MRI and a series of CT scans I was visited by a spinal consultant who told me there was a danger of sharp bone severing my spinal cord.

“I had an operation to pin three vertebrae together and given a brace to wear for two months.

“In December the pins were taken out as they said the bones had fused, but I’ve been told I will probably suffer chronic back pain for the rest of my life.

“I believe the weeks I spent moving around after being sent home caused more damage to my back, which will now never get better.”

“If I’d been kept in at the start it would be a different story.

“The consultants at A&E are to blame for my severe back pain by doing what they did. I was lucky I was not paralysed due to their negligence.”

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Mr Wilson underwent spinal surgery under the care of clinicians in our specialist regional unit in February last year after attending our emergency department and subsequent review of his injury.

“We were unaware of the extent of Mr Wilson’s complaints when contacted by the Daily Echo in May but he has since raised the issues with us directly and we are now in the process of investigating those with him while he continues to receive follow-up care.”