A PENSIONER was left sitting in her GP’s waiting room with a fractured eye socket and severe bruising because they were too busy to see her.

Elizabeth Robertson, 68, was told to go to her doctor at Riverside Medical Practice in Musselburgh after suffering a traumatic fall, but despite her obvious injuries she was told to wait her turn.

And when she asked if she could go home and wait for the duty doctor there, she was told a home visit had been ruled out as she had already presented herself as “fit to attend”.

Mrs Robertson, of Miner’s Terrace, Wallyford, had been on her way to a hospital appointment at the Eye Pavillion in Edinburgh when she took a fall on an uneven paving stone.

On arrival at the city hospital she was advised to return to her own GP in Musselburgh to have her injuries examined.

But after making her way back there, she was informed they were too busy to see her and she would have to wait.

Mrs Robertson said: “I was clearly distressed and very clearly injured, yet I was told to wait. The on-call doctor was out and although other doctors came in and out, and would clearly have seen the state I was in, they just ignored me.

“It was shocking the way I was treated.

“When I finally saw the on-call doctor I was first berated for being rude to the receptionist, before being examined.

“I was told I had a fractured eye socket, possible concussion and ‘invited’ to go to the infirmary, but how I got there was down to me, and I was in no fit state to get back on a bus.” Mrs Robertson returned to her home to recuperate but remains angry about her treatment.

She said: “I know the surgery is over-stretched but I thought when I turned up visibly injured I would be made a priority.

“It is like it is not a vocation any more, there is no time for patients or to prioritise.” Riverside Medical Practice did not respond to the Courier’s request for a comment.

Dr David Farquharson, medical director, NHS Lothian, said: “We cannot comment on individual cases without consent, but we strive to supply the right care in the right place at the right time. If that was not the experience of the patient in this case we would urge them to get in touch so we can investigate further.”