BRAVE schoolgirl Jenny Martin (pictured) will have to wait 11 years to celebrate winning compensation for a hospital blunder.

The court decision against Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust comes after a harrowing two years during which she had a piece of glass embedded in her hand.

But when seven year-old Tyldesley girl Jenny is finally able to toast her £3,500 compensation award - after nursing staff failing to spot the chunk of glass - she'll be drinking out of a plastic cup!

Jenny was just two when she cut her hand on glass in a bonfire night fall as she ran to collect some potato pie from her nan Rita Whiteside's home in Crawford Avenue, Tyldesley.

She was later treated at Leigh Infirmary where glass embedded in her right hand went undetected by hospital staff.

Jenny's mum, mother-of-three Lynn, became concerned when a lump appeared in Jenny's palm and constant pain made the infant reluctant to use it.

Lynn said: "At the hospital they cleaned the wound, put a butterfly plaster on and they said when it healed the lump in her palm would eventually disappear.

"But she was reluctant to use her hand properly and kept saying it hurt."

Two years later Jenny fell and cut her hand again opening the flesh above the lump. Later Jenny's GP examined her and said he was sure there was a foreign body in her hand.

X-rays at Booth Hall Children's Hospital highlighted the glass splinter and preparations were made for an operation and plastic surgery when the sliver worked its own way out.

Manchester County Court approved the £3,500 compensation claim and the money will be held in a London trust until the youngster's 18th birthday.

Mum Lynn said:"We knew something wasn't right when the lump appeared. Fortunately the glass worked its own way out - but you would have thought the hospital staff would have found it when she cut it in the first place.

"Now Jenny says she'll take us on holiday - she hasn't grasped the fact that she can't touch the money until she's 18.

"But any celebration drinks will definitely be out of plastic glasses!"

A spokesman for Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust said: "We are pleased the matter is concluded and sympathise with Jenny for her discomfort."

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