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Uni student praises NUH staff after suffering hot water bottle burns
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Student severely burned by old hot water bottle
Roni Bent suffered serious mixed burns after an expired hot water bottle split and spilled boiling water on her stomach and thighs. -
Quick first aid and hospital treatment praised
Her flatmates cooled the burns correctly before taking her to QMC, where she received rapid care and was then moved to the City Hospital burns unit. -
Warning issued about hot water bottle safety
Roni and NUH staff urge people to check expiry dates, avoid using boiling water, and consider safer alternatives due to rising hot water bottle injuries.
A university student has praised the quick thinking from her friends and treatment from staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) after she experienced severe burns from a n out-of-date hot water bottle.
19-year-old Roni Bent was only a few weeks into life as a student at University of Nottingham when she reached for her hot water bottle to ease the discomfort of menstrual cramps, as she had done many times before. Little did she know that the rubber inside her old hot water bottle had perished d. The bottle split whilst strapped to her, spilling boiling water all over her lower stomach and inner thighs.
Roni said: “I didn’t know hot water bottle s had expiration dates. This was an old bottle and one I had used many times.
“It was wrapped in my clothes, and I couldn’t release it in time, so the boiling water emptied all over my stomach and legs. I have never felt pain like it. I was screaming but no one could hear me.”
Wrapping herself in a dressing gown, Roni then alerted her flatmates, who followed the correct guidance of showering Roni in cool water for 20 minutes and then they took Roni to Queens Medical Centre (QMC). Roni said: “It was a Friday night and busy in A&E, but I was being treated within 5 mins of arriving. The staff were amazing.”
When Roni’s parents arrived, she was taken to City Hospital to the specialist burns unit, where the team was again quick to treat her. Roni had suffered what clinicians refer to as a ‘mixed burn’ . A mixed burn is made up of superficial (epidermal) and deeper (dermal) damage.
After spending a week in hospital, Roni was discharged and is now back at home with her parents in Stoke, recovering and coming back to the City Hospital burns clinic to have her dressings changed.
Roni said, “I didn’t know you were not supposed to put boiling water in hot water bottles, and I wanted to make people aware that if you do use an in-date hot water bottle, you need to just use warm water, not boiling water from a kettle.”
Mar y Kennedy is the NUH Lead Burns Nurse at City Hospital. She said: “The quick thinking of Roni’s flat mates and the first aid they gave her would have possibly reduced the depth of her burn injury.
“We are seeing an increase in hot water bottle burns with more young adults and children being admitted.
“People should consider alternatives to hot water bottles, like wheat bags. If you are using a hot water bottle then check the expiration date on it and check it has the British standard flower symbol and only use warm water, never boiling water.”
By sharing her story, Roni is hoping people will be more careful with using hot water bottles to avoid the ordeal she has been through.