A MUM with a suspected blood clot had to be treated on the floor in A&E after waiting five-and-a-half hours for a bed.

Sophie Brown, 32, was referred to Basildon Hospital by her GP after a series of abnormal results but was told she would have to wait in A&E as there were no beds, despite her suffering agonising chest pains.

She claims nurses had to wheel out a blood pressure monitor and take a blood test in the waiting room and kept saying there were no beds.

Sophie, of Stanford-le-Hope, said: “When I first arrived my heart rate was through the roof.

“I was told that it would be another 35 minutes until I was sent to the resuscitation unit but I was thinking ‘I might not have another 35 minutes’. I had been sitting on a hard chair for hours and I was beginning to feel really hot and dizzy.

“I pulled a blanket out of my bag and just fell to the floor with it.

“Anything was better than sitting on a hard chair.

“I was in such pain and I just didn’t want to run the risk of passing out and falling head first on the floor. As soon as I fell the nurses said ‘Why didn’t you say? You should have asked for a bed’.

“Honestly it was a joke. Without really acknowledging me the doctor stepped over me to speak to my husband. He handed him a course of antibiotics and said ‘if the problems persist call an ambulance and we’ll bring her straight in’. This was in front of other people. There was a severe lack of privacy and dignity.

“It’s just a joke. I wouldn’t have gone there if it wasn’t for my GP.”

The mum-of-one visited her GP having grown concerned about her crippling chest pain and swollen legs 11 days after her long-haul flight to Orlando, Florida.

A spokesman for the hospital said: “We are sorry that Mrs Brown wasn’t happy with her care and would ask her to call our patient advice and liaison service to speak with us directly. Not every patient needs a bed.

“Doctors allocate beds based on clinical need. Our staff only ever give treatment, including taking blood pressure, in a bed or a chair.”