A 13-year-old girl has hit out at hospital staff who refused to help when her mother collapsed just outside of the building.
Amie Gilberston was forced to call an ambulance to get her mother the help she needed as she fainted on the pavement and then again in the car.
Her mother Jenna, 38, had been at hospital getting an X-ray on her injured wrist and was also suffering from flu-like symptoms.
But moments after the pair left Midlothian Community Hospital in Bonnyrigg, Jenna fainted on the pavement just outside the building.
Scared Amie rushed into the hospital in tears pleading for help with only a fellow patient coming to her aid last Friday.
An ambulance eventually came to the rescue.
But the family have hit out at the NHS staff who refused to help during the health scare.
Amie said: “I was so scared, I just kept screaming, ‘Mum, mum please wake up!’ But she wouldn’t wake up and nobody would help me.
“I’m angry and sad that the hospital acted like that. I’m just glad my mum is OK now.”
After Jenna fainted, Amie eventually managed to help her mum onto a bench and then phoned her dad, William.
She helped her mum into the family car, but Jenna fainted again in in her vehicle – putting young Amie into a state of complete panic.
The teenager phoned her dad again, then called an ambulance before going back into the hospital – only for staff to continue to refuse to help.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and treated Jenna in the ambulance before giving her the all-clear.
It later emerged that Jenna had fainted as a result of her blood pressure dropping due to flu-like symptoms.
The learning assistant from Dalkeith, Midlothian, said she was still “shocked” by the treatment she and Amie received from the hospital staff.
She said: “I think it’s absolutely disgraceful. I can’t believe they would treat someone like that.
“I know that it’s not an A&E department or anything like that but to not give a child assistance when somebody is lying unconscious is unfathomable.
“Who would do something like that? If you fainted at a supermarket car park, the staff would come out to help right away.
“You would assume that hospital staff who are trained would come to the aid of a child.
“Amie is fine now but she can’t believe it and gets upset talking about it.”
She added: “I was lying on the pavement in the pouring rain.
“Amie had gone back into the hospital to get help and the reception staff told her that she’d need to go back outside as there was no-one who could help.
“She was distressed, really distressed, she was crying, she was upset – in a state of panic.
“I walked a few yards over to my car in the hospital car park and then I felt terrible.
“As she was on the phone to the ambulance, she was asking the receptionists what the hospital name is and what town it is in? – whether she should say Dalkeith or Bonnyrigg.”
Amie was also not allowed to sit with her mum when they arrived at the hospital.
Jenna added: “The receptionist told me that Amie would have to sit in the main waiting room on her own while I sat in the X-ray waiting room as there wasn’t enough chairs in the X-ray waiting area.
“I told them this was my daughter but they still said she’d have to wait on her own.
“I’ve sent a couple of e-mails to NHS Lothian and followed their complaints procedure – I’ve not got any faith in their service now.”
Paramedics asked her if she wanted to go to hospital for a further check-up but Jenna said no as she felt fine and she “wanted to get home as soon as possible”.
Allister Short, joint director for Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership, has apologised to the family on behalf of NHS Lothian.
He said: “I would like to offer a sincere apology to Jenna Gilbertson, her daughter and her family.
“We place a high value on patient care and we will be looking into this matter fully to find out what happened and what we can do to ensure something like this does not happen again.”
