Woman told to call her own ambulance

A UK family is devastated after a grandmother suffering from a heart attack was left helpless at a hospital.

A receptionist at Palmer Community hospital told 58-year-old Hannah Barnes she had to call her own ambulance because she didn't meet what's called "urgency criteria."

Receptionists are supposed to make a quick visual assessment of a patient's condition when they arrive. If they request an ambulance, they're supposed to seek advice from a GP.

The grandmother of three walked to the center after she began feeling symptoms of a heart attack - she's already had one.

After being rejected by employees, she frantically searched for her phone in her bag to make the call herself...but it was too late.

She was admitted to the hospital where she has stayed for the past week in a critical condition after suffering her second heart attack since January.

The Daily Caller reports receptionists at medical centers in the UK don't have a great history - a study from the 1980s called them "the dragons behind the desk" and later a group of researchers revealed many were often under-trained and overworked.

So far, none of the employees at the community hospital have faced any legal punishment.


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