A boy of two spent hours in agony after being sent home from hospital with an undiagnosed broken leg.

Doctors said Thomas Pughe-Morgan only had soft tissue damage and gave his mother some painkillers for him. The youngster spent the night sobbing with pain and refusing to move.

When his mother took him to another hospital the next morning medics found he had a serious spiral fracture to his left leg.

Thomas is now recovering at home in Heathfield but has to lie down all the time and his leg will be in plaster for four weeks.

His furious parents, Simon and Justina, have written to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt demanding an explanation.

Their nightmare began on Wednesday night last week when Thomas fell off the settee at the family home.

She said: "I heard a loud crack and he immediately became hysterical. He was in a lot of pain and asking for medicine and a plaster."

Mrs Pughe-Morgan, 24, who works part time at a nursing home, took her son to the accident and emergency department at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath at about 10pm.

She said: "I told them I thought it was his leg that was the problem but his ankle was a bit swollen so they just concentrated on that and X-rayed the ankle and foot.

"They seemed to be dismissive when we suggested it was the leg.

"He had his X-ray and then the doctor said it was soft tissue damage and sent him home even through he was clearly in pain."

When Thomas eventually got home after midnight he went to bed but did not get any sleep and cried for most of the night.

The next morning Mrs Pughe-Morgan took him to Eastbourne District General Hospital where the leg was X-rayed and the fracture spotted.

She said: "We are absolutely furious. Thomas went through a lot of extra pain for nothing."

Mrs Pughe-Morgan is also angry at the response of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Princess Royal, when they made a complaint.

She said: "My mother contacted them the day Thomas went to Eastbourne to tell them what had happened and was told the complaints department at the hospital worked on a part-time basis and there was nobody available to speak to. She then eventually got in contact with the chief executive's office and was told someone would call back but they never did."

Mrs Pughe-Morgan and her husband Simon, 37, will never use the Princess Royal again.

A trust spokeswoman said: "(We are) sorry to hear that Mr and Mrs Pughe-Morgan are unhappy with the care their son, Thomas, received at the Princess Royal Hospital's A&E department.

"The trust will be investigating the circumstances of the care given to Thomas and respond to them directly."