'I called 999 from outside A&E as no-one helped'

Frank Bourne said he was disgusted at the way the pair were treated at A&E

A man was forced to make a frantic 999 call from outside an A&E department as he said hospital staff refused to help a seriously ill friend who was having a seizure.

Frank Bourne, 74, rushed Debbra Phillimore to Maidstone Hospital in Kent, but when he asked for help to get her out the car a nurse told him it was "not her problem", he said.

After Mr Bourne told the 999 operator that staff had refused to help, he said they dispatched an emergency ambulance to take Ms Phillimore into the hospital.

A spokesperson for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said care from staff "fell short of the standards our teams work hard to provide".

Mr Bourne said he had stopped in front of the doors of A&E and ran inside to ask a duty nurse for help to get his friend "out of the car with a trolley, and into A&E".

He said: "I received the answer that it is not her problem, and that I would have to do it myself.

"I am 74, and that was not possible."

Mr Bourne said he believed Ms Phillimore, 62, was at risk of having a cardiac arrest.

"There were no ambulances outside so I decided to call 999," he added.

Initially the 999 call handler told Mr Bourne to go back inside the hospital and ask again for help.

Mr Bourne told them that they had refused to help.

"I could hear someone in the background trying to get in contact with the hospital but nothing happened so the 999 operator said he would send an emergency ambulance immediately," he said

Mr Bourne, from Dover, described himself as being "disgusted" following the incident, which happened last November.

"How can you be a hospital? And they won't help me, and especially where I was - actually at the A&E department," he said.

He said staff only came outside to help Ms Phillimore into the building when the emergency response arrived.

Ms Phillimore said the incident had affected her confidence in the NHS.

"I've had several hospital appointments since. I have been in such agitation when I've had to go and see a doctor," she said.

"I've cried. It's left me in such a state. How am I going to be treated?"

The pair have spent the last six months trying to arrange a meeting with the hospital trust to raise their concerns.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "We are sorry for the delay in arranging a meeting with Mr Bourne and will send him a new meeting date as soon as possible.

"We would also like to apologise once again to Mr Bourne and his partner for the care they received when they arrived at our Emergency Department. This fell short of the standards our teams work hard to provide."