There were almost 1,300 calls to a helpline last year about children getting poisoned with paracetamol.

The National Poisons Information Centre has helplines for healthcare professionals and members of the public.

New figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show the substances they took calls about last year, relating to children.

The main agent was paracetamol, with 1,288 calls.

That was followed by the medication ibuprofen, which is in nurofen tablets - with 625 calls.

In many cases, children accidentally consumed household products.

“We would all think that we have things protected at home but to a small child, a green, white and red liquid tab for the washing machine can look very like something they would enjoy as a sweet,” GP Ciarán Ó Fearraigh said. 

There were also 98 calls about dishwasher tablets in 2022, 69 about washing up liquid, 56 about firelighters, and 142 about hand cleansers.

Main image: A child looking at pills. Picture by: Alamy.com