Parents' anger over girl's agony

Kayleigh Glenn needs corrective surgery

The parents of a Birmingham teenager who needs corrective surgery after an operation to straighten her spine say their daughter has been left in agony because of a lack of hospital beds.

Titanium rods were inserted into 13-year-old Kayleigh Glenn's back but have twisted out of place.

The operation was carried out privately at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Every time Kayleigh screams I think the bar has come through her skin

Karen Glenn

Kayleigh's parents say doctors there told them they would have to wait more than three weeks for the 30-minute corrective operation due to a lack of beds.

But the Glenns are now worried because they have been told the rods could break through Kayleigh's skin at any time.

Kayleigh, who is blind and unable to speak, is in constant pain.

'Passing the buck'

The Glenns say they were told to go to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham if the bar broke through the skin but found that staff there were reluctant to touch someone else's work.

Kayleigh's mother Karen said: "It really upsets us because she is crying and we can't help her.

Her parents fear the rod could break the skin

"But the hospitals are just passing the buck to one another.

"Oxford say if it goes through the her back to see Birmingham but they won't touch her and keep throwing us back to Oxford."

Mrs Glenn said: "We have had no sleep for days.

"Every time Kayleigh screams I think the bar has come through her skin.

"The painkillers are helping but we have been told she will get used to them."

Neither the John Radcliffe Hospital nor Birmingham Children's Hospital were available for comment.