Anger at op delay

The accident left Peter Lendrum, 17, bleeding heavily on the floor with girlfriend Jenna Jones, 15, giving first aid.

Peter, from Worthing, was treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton for an inch-deep wound to his right arm and lacerations on all the fingers of his left hand.

However, an emergency operation to repair the torn muscle was cancelled twice, despite medics telling him he needed urgent treatment.

Now Peter, who is training to be an electrician, fears he may never fully recover from nerve damage to his arm and may not regain full movement.

Speaking from his hospital bed, he said he feared for his life as he lay bleeding in Jenna's bedroom, where the accident happened.

He was running into the room in Court Farm Road, Newhaven, on Friday night when he accidentally put his hand through a glass door panel.

As he tumbled to the ground he fell through the door, receiving further injuries.

He said: "It did not feel real. There was so much blood, I thought I was dying. I almost fell unconscious and was sick three times.

"Now I just want to be well again and I am worried I will not be able to use my arm or hand when I go back to college."

Jenna, who attends Chailey School in South Chailey, said: "I stayed on the phone to the operator and they told me what to do.

"I was terrified and could not stop crying. There was blood all over the carpet."

Jenna's dad Roger Jones, who accompanied Peter to the hospital, said: "The operation was put off and off. The wound on his right arm would not stop bleeding even the day after the accident but because he did not need a life-saving operation it kept being put back. It was a disgrace."

A spokesman for the Royal Sussex said: "The patient's case was reviewed by the senior surgeon who decided other patients must be treated first.

"The nature of his injuries and his age have of course been considered. These decisions are not made on a whim."