As temperatures continue to drop in the lead up to winter, a Northern Ireland news presenter is urging care in regards to hot water bottles.
Jane Veitch, who works for Q Radio, sustained significant burns to her leg after her hot water bottle split, sending the boiling water within it, over the top of her bare skin.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Jane says while her healing process is now going well, she wants to highlight the precautions to take when filling and using hot water bottles after experiencing her own trauma.
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"This happened two Sundays ago, so it is almost three weeks ago now," she added.
"I have used a hot water bottle for years and have one pretty much every night, even in the summer time. I was coming into Q the next morning for the Breakfast Show, so I was going to bed early, at around 8pm. I have a habit of filling my hot water bottle and putting it into my pyjama bottoms.
"As I was standing brushing my teeth, it just split. It was excruciating. It was so painful and my husband came up because he heard me screaming. It was pretty awful and when I got my trousers off, it was very painful. The worst pain I have ever experienced.
"My husband wrapped my thigh in a towel with cold water. I felt as if I was going to pass out with the pain, and lucky enough we live a couple of minutes from the Ulster Hospital.
"We got in the car and went to A&E and I have to say, throughout the whole process, the NHS was wonderful. Basically what happened my hot water bottle, like most, it was in a fluffy cover. Nobody takes it out to inspect the water bottle. There was a little hole in the bottom and it had obviously started to perish. That's what I would advise now, for people to really inspect their hot water bottles for wear and tear.
"And the key thing, is to not put boiling water in them - which everybody does."
Jane's burns were dressed and she was given painkillers to go home and rest, but after one day, she admitted still not feeling 100%.
Due to go back to the Burns Unit in Belfast on the Wednesday, Jane phoned the team after she was redressed at her GP surgery. She was asked her to come in to the Royal Victoria Hospital a day before scheduled.
"They took a look at it and said they needed to keep me in for a few days," Jane added.
"The care I had was again, brilliant. I was in for six nights. The healing process is going really well now and I came back into work at Q this week. The team at Q are amazing, all of them. Everybody really stepped up when I was away, and we have a great team in the news room. I really do love it here, the team are just fabulous.
"I just want to highlight what happened to me, so that it may prevent it happening to someone else."
On ITV's This Morning, Alice Beer issued advice on hot water bottle usage similar to Jane's - that hot water bottles should not be filled with boiling water and that any cover should be removed when filling it up, so that the bottle's condition can be checked.
She explained how to find out the hot water bottles manufacture date: "Hot water bottles do have a date of manufacture. Inside you have got a daisy wheel date. It has got 12 segments, and in the middle you see [a number]. The one I have says 22, so this was made in 2022, then you have the segments, those are the months.
"You can tell that the last segment is the eight segment, so August with three dots - so the third week in August."
You can listen to Jane and the Q Radio team through here.
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