Michol Munns, from Shooters Hill Road, Blackheath, is fuming at the care her 12-year-old son, Tyler, received in the NHS after a nasty head wound

Thomas Tallis pupil Tyler Munns, 12, tripped on a bench at his school in Kidbrooke Park Road, ripping part of his nose off and leaving him with a horrific wound dangerously close to his eyeball.

His parents, mum Michol, 48, and dad Lindsay, 45, rushed from their home in Shooters Hill Road, accompanying their son via ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Stadium Road, Woolwich.

Mrs Munns, a company consultant, told News Shopper: “A bit of the bench went into his head, another bit pulled off the lower part of his nostril.

"He was bleeding, the blood was all over the ground, and he was covered in blood.

“There were holes in his head, his nose was ripped down the bottom and you could see his skull, it was open.

MORE TOP STORIES

“He’s going to have a scar forever. His nose was in pieces, it broke.

“He’s lucky he wasn’t blinded or killed.”

Upon arrival a junior doctor helped them "mop up the blood", but the mother-of-two says he had to repeatedly ask for an x-ray to be taken.

She added: “They weren’t doing an x-ray or a catscan based on the fact there was no vomiting or unconsciousness.”

After hours of waiting, they were told Tyler’s injury needed to be treated by a plastic surgeon, none of which were available in the hospital.

Told they would need to go to Guy’s and St Thomas’, Mrs Munn said: “They said they didn’t have any beds at Guy’s and St Thomas’ this evening, so we would have to go home but Tyler was still bleeding.

"We said he’s bleeding from his head two, three hours later, he can’t go home like this.”

An ambulance was eventually arranged to take him to the central London hospital, where the schoolboy was seen for "one minute" by a locum plastic surgeon.

“He basically just looked and said facial injury, and put him in for tomorrow,” she said.

“It wasn’t convenient to fit him in, or it didn’t seem urgent enough.

Tyler after the accident

“The nurse came in and put 30 strips in his face trying to patch the hole up and stop the bleeding so they could send him back.

“He’s a 12-year-old who’s had a serious injury and they’re ready to send us back.

“We have no medical expertise, what if he did throw up or pass out? They didn’t give us pain relief for overnight.

“We were pretty much invisible to them.

“They sent me out in the night with my kid who’s had a terrible accident, they couldn’t even find a bed for a child.”

Arriving home in the early hours the youngster had trouble sleeping as he could not breathe through his nose.

Under general anaesthetic he underwent two and half hours of surgery with the plastic surgeon at Guy’s the next day.

Michol, Tyler, Alana, 9, and Lindsay

But shockingly, his mother said: “The surgeon said it was a very serious injury and it was very nearly life-threatening. Those were his words to me.

“It was grave enough to warrant plastic surgery, it’s the kind of injury you expect to be seen to.

“It was wide open, just open flesh and blood on his head.

“He could have caught an infection, got a blood clot. They had to sew him up.

“We couldn’t get anyone to take us seriously, we had to go to two different places for care and even then we were sent away, I was in disbelief. It was a negligent thing to do."

It took a further seven hours to be discharged the day after surgery, owing to a signature needed to sign off on drops.

The school handled the situation "brilliantly" after the trip on February 5, and Tyler is due back after the half term, but his mum claims their experience has changed her views of the NHS.

She added: “They made our experience 1,000 times worse. It’s made me think it’s not safe.

Tyler's scar

“The system needs to be overhauled. I don’t know the extent of Jeremy Hunt’s plan but the idea of saving the NHS, I can’t see what they’re saving.

“If people can’t be held to account it will just continue substandard, mediocre care.”

A spokesman for the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust defended its actions, saying: “We are unable to comment on details of individual cases due to patient confidentiality.

“We can however say that the details given are not accurate, and we believe we delivered a high standard of care to Tyler Munn.

“We would be happy to discuss Tyler’s care with the Munn family and assure them that any concerns will be thoroughly investigated and responded to.”

A spokesman for Guy's and St Thomas' said: "We are sorry that Tyler’s family are unhappy with the care he received.

"We would urge them to contact us so that we can look into this and provide them with a full response.”