A mother has criticised an out-of-hours health service after her 13-year-old daughter was left waiting for treatment.

Jane Biggerstaff of Riverside Close in Kings Langley says she is appalled at the service she received from Hertfordshire Urgent Care after her daughter Nicola fell ill with tonsillitis.

When Nicola’s temperature soared and her condition deteriorated Mrs Biggerstaff contacted the out-of-service line at around 8.40pm on Saturday evening.

She said: “Firstly I was told that a doctor would only come out for an elderly person or a baby. I then asked if I could speak to a doctor for some advice and they refused.

“They wanted me to take Nicola to Watford General but I couldn’t as she was vomiting and feeling faint. I couldn’t take her in the car as it would have been a safety risk for her and me."

Nicola suffers reguarly from tonsillitis and her mother knew that she needed antibiotics.

A disgruntled Mrs Biggerstaff added: "When a child falls ill their condition can deteriorate so quickly. It’s totally unacceptable to be told there are no GPs available to talk to you."

A doctor eventually arrived to see Nicola at around midnight and prescribed her with antibiotics and advised that if her condition worsened to contact the service again as she could develop Quinsies.

On the doctors advice Mrs Biggerstaff called the service again in the early hours of Monday morning as Nicola had worsened and she was unable to swallow the tablets given to her by the doctor.

She was told to go to Watford hospital to get the medication in a liquid form.

A spokeswoman for Herts Urgent Care confirmed they had received a call from Mrs Biggerstaff on Saturday at 8.41pm and that her call was forwarded to a GP who contacted her at around 8.53pm to assess her daughter’s condition and symptoms.

The spokeswoman said: “From the history provided, the GP felt it appropriate to make a home visit and assigned a priority to the patient which allowed a visit to be undertaken within six hours in accordance with the National Quality Requirements set by the Department of Health.”

She added: “The GP visited the patient at 00.04 well within the required response time. Patients generally understand that GPs do have to prioritise calls so that they see those with the most urgent need first.

"We are sorry that the patient isn’t happy with the response from the GP on this occasion.

“We do operate the NHS complaints procedure and would ask your correspondent to contact us directly as patient confidentiality prevents a full response in a public forum”.

Mrs Biggerstaff added: “I can’t be the only parent that has gone through this. People are just too afraid to come forward and express their concerns.”