A WOMAN who was told she had pulled a muscle and should go home and rest is angry after finding out she had actually broken her hip and needed emergency surgery.

Carol Barton, 65, from East Cowton, near Northallerton North Yorkshire, was in excruciating pain after falling heavily on wet cobblestones earlier this year.

“I managed to get up, but I knew I had really hurt myself. I couldn’t walk and had no control over my right foot,” said Mrs Barton.

Her accident happened just after 4pm on Saturday, February 1, near Skipton, and her partner drove her to Airedale General Hospital in Keighley.

Doctors suggested she had probably pulled a muscle and advised her to go home and rest the leg.

Mrs Barton said she was surprised that doctors at the hospital did not x-ray her leg, but accepted their advice.

But after several days of “hobbling around in agony” her partner drove her back to the hospital in order to get a second opinion.

After explaining what had happened Mrs Barton was immediately referred to a consultant orthopaedic specialist, who arranged for her leg to be x-rayed.

After looking at the x-ray the consultant told Mrs Barton she had a broken hip and would need an immediate replacement.

On February 4 she underwent replacement surgery.

“I am very angry that the hospital didn’t take an x-ray of my leg when I first came into A&E on the Saturday,” she added.

Stacey Hunter, director of operations at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust said it was "regrettable" Mrs Barton was not x-rayed when she first attended A&E. She said the hospital was investigating and would be reviewing its procedures, and said: "We apologise to Mrs Barton for the delay in diagnosis."