A six-week-old baby was fed liquid baby soap instead of medicine at an Oxford Hospital.

Megan Boswell

Megan Boswell was discharged from the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Headington, after being treated for a lung infection, but was re-admitted hours later suffering from severe vomiting.

Her family say the mistake was made by an agency nurse, who gave the girl's grandmother Gina Boswell a specimen bottle of Infacare bath wash with a syringe to put it in her mouth, instead of Infacol -- a liquid remedy for wind and colic. They are now lodging a complaint and want a full apology.

The hospital is looking into the incident and promised to keep the family informed.

Mrs Boswell, 41, of Fieldside, Abingdon, said: "Apparently, the amount she took will not harm her, but that's beside the point. This agency nurse gave this to me to give to my granddaughter and she shouldn't have done that. We are just so angry about this.

"If I had completely filled the syringe full of baby wash it could have killed Megan."

Megan was admitted to hospital suffering from the lung infection bronchiolitis last Wednesday after her mother Joyce, 20, of Lammas Close, Abingdon, took her to the GP. The baby's father Gary Edwards is a soldier serving in Iraq. Gina Boswell said: "On Saturday evening I asked a nurse for Infacol, for the baby's wind. She didn't check with a doctor, and came back with a specimen bottle full of liquid and a syringe to put it in Megan's mouth.

"She told me to use one millilitre of the liquid, and watched while I gave it to her."

The mistake was revealed the next day when another nurse asked to see the 'medicine'.

Megan was allowed home Sunday night but was readmitted when she began vomitting and is still in hospital.

In a statement, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, responsible for the JR, said: "We are investigating this thoroughly and will work hard to establish exactly what happened. We will make sure the Boswells are kept informed about the outcome of our investigation and any follow-up action.

"We take all complaints very seriously and we have systems in place to ensure that whenever possible we learn from any mistakes that are made."