Emily Elson knocked herself out whilst playing at home

The East Midlands Ambulance Service says a child with a head injury had to wait five hours because of its heavy workload.

Six-year-old Emily Elson from Kilburn in Derbyshire knocked herself unconscious whilst playing at home on 23 August.

Her mother Tracy took her to the accident and emergency department at Ripley Community Hospital, but they told her to go to the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

An ambulance was called to take her on the 20-minute journey.

Long wait

Her mother Tracy Elson said: "I had the car outside and I could've taken her to the hospital myself, they wouldn't let me.

"The nurses said I wouldn't have to wait any more than two hours which, at half past seven takes you to half past nine - I think that's a reasonable amount of time."

"I didn't expect in a million years to have to wait as long as I did."

Phil Morris, from the East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "I would say that one of the biggest problems we face at the moment is sheer workload pressures.

"We are finding that year on year there's a 6% increase in the amount of the calls that we have to handle.

"So, in about 12 months time we are likely to be dealing with 60 more accident and emergency calls per day, over and above today's level."