Meath girl (15) with serious head injury forced to visit three different hospitals for treatment

And the incident involving a 15-year-old from Meath has infuriated local Fianna Fáil councillor Tommy Reilly who blasted: “I'm disgusted with the health service in this country."

The teen tumbled from a hammock last Thursday week and sustained a serious gash on her head.

Her worried parents rushed her to A&E in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan but were told children had to go elsewhere and informed them that she had to go to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth.

Reilly revealed:“The girl’s parents knew she faced a very, very, long wait in Drogheda and she was in such a bad way, they opted to drive to Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin instead.

“When they got there, a really nice nurse told them that while she was qualified to deal with the wound and to stitch it up she had to get permission from a doctor to do so, and she would not be able to see a doctor for at least eight hours!

“The parents who were now extremely upset, had to take their child home and decided to try a third hospital the next day, they stayed awake with her all night before travelling to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown where she was sorted out.

“I'm disgusted with the health service in Ireland, it is being run by faceless people some of whom are on as much as €200k a year and they don't care a damn about the suffering patients have to go through.

“I mean can you imagine the frustration the parents in this case felt when told by the nurse she was able to do the job and ease their child’s distress but had to wait eight hours to get the authority to do it, that is bureaucracy gone mad right there, the nurse herself was clearly upset that she couldn't help.

“And the really sad thing was that even though it was 24 hours before she was eventually treated, it was probably still faster than if she went to Drogheda in the first place.”

Photographs that emerged earlier this week showed eleven ambulances queuing for five hours outside the hospital Drogheda last Saturday night as there were no beds or trolleys available to take their patients.