A TEENAGER caused a disturbance at a hospital because she wanted a sick note to go on holiday, a court was told last week.

Anna Thomson, from Musselburgh, was said to be “making a lot of noise” and “disturbing” other patients when she arrived at the accident and emergency department at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh last March.

Thomson told police officers who had been called to deal with her that she had not received “the correct attention” from medics and that she needed “a sick line for an upcoming holiday”.

The officers left the area after the 18-year-old had calmed down but were forced to attend once more after she again became unruly.

Staff informed the officers that Thomson was not to receive any further treatment and were recommending that she go home as the department was “busy at the time”.

The teenager, of Montgomery Way, again complained over her treatment and that she wanted to have a sick line produced.

Thomson’s conduct led to her being arrested and charged with behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at the hospital at about 4am on March 19 last year.

The teenager appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Thursday, where she pleaded guilty to the offence.

Solicitor Victoria Good said that her client’s “mental health had been poor” at the time of the offence and that Thomson had been drinking alcohol with a friend the previous evening.

Sheriff Wendy Sheehan gave Thomson a strict dressing down during the court hearing and told her that medics at the accident and emergency department were not there to “issue sick lines or other non-urgent treatment”.

The sheriff said: “You should have gone to minor injuries and you took up time of the staff, who were dealing with people with critically and possibly life-threatening issues. Do you understand that?

“I hope you realise what you have done and will not do that again.

“I will be giving you a formal admonition for your record and you now have a criminal conviction.

“This is a serious matter and I don’t want to see you in court again.”

Thomson was admonished on the charge and warned of her future behaviour.