A British man has expressed anger after claiming that his injured two-year-old daughter was left unattended in an empty emergency room at Gozo General Hospital for 30 minutes.

James Cocks, 34, was in Malta for a holiday with his family, staying with Maltese relatives in Birżebbuġa.

They decided to go for a day trip to Gozo on April 22 and were touring Marsalforn at around 1.15pm when his two-year-old daughter, Emily, tumbled out of their stationary car and landed flat on her face.

They always say that the first hour following a head injury can be critical

With blood dripping from her nose and mouth and a swollen lump on her forehead which, Mr Cocks said, was half the size of an egg, the concerned family took their daughter to hospital.

When they arrived, Mr Cocks said a receptionist asked for his passport. Since he had left it at his relatives’ home, he produced his driving licence, though was allegedly told that his failure to produce a passport might cause a problem.

Concerned for the welfare of his child, he said he asked the receptionist to help and was allegedly told: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Meanwhile the family claim that they were left alone in a waiting room.

“She sat at her desk and didn’t do anything – I didn’t see her making phone calls or anything of the sort. When I pressed her, she told me: ‘What do you want me to do?’

“If a crying toddler is no emergency, I don’t know what is. And I was very worried. They always say that the first hour following a head injury can be critical. Until you see a doctor, you’re always thinking bad things.”

After waiting for half-an-hour, Mr Cocks and his family left the hospital and immediately headed to Malta, where they drove to the Paola health centre. His daughter was tended to instantly and her cuts were cleaned out.

“The nurse who cared for her was surprised that Emily was not given medical care at the Gozo Hospital.

“We’re part of the EU. If you went to a UK hospital, you’d be cared for immediately. “I’ve been to Malta a number of times and always enjoyed it. This incident somewhat dampened our holiday though. I felt like driving straight to the airport.”

A spokeswoman from the Health Ministry said the incident had been investigated and according to information provided by the Gozo General Hospital, the patient in question was registered at 1.48pm and was called at 2.06pm.

However, she added, at the time of calling the patient had already left the hospital.