A mum says her toddler faces having his finger amputated after trapping it in a door at a Premier Inn.
Aleisha O’Sullivan and her family booked into the hotel chain's Slough Central site ahead of a family trip to Legoland for Jace James ‘JJ’ O’Sullivan’s second birthday.
She shares: "We were in our room for 15 to 20 minutes. I'd just changed JJ's nappy in the bathroom and we were just coming out of the room.
"I had his left hand in my right hand and I was walking towards where the hairdryer was and the door to the bathroom was left open."
But within 20 minutes of checking into the hotel, the celebrations took a terrifying turn.
JJ had trapped his middle finger in the bathroom door of the room, and it was left "hanging on by a thread" with blood and the bone being exposed.
Aleisha, from Cardiff, said: "The injury was down to where the first bit of knuckle is. It was hanging on by the smallest piece of thread.
"We were right next to the staff room where the cleaners go. I started screaming for somebody to help and call an ambulance."
Once at the reception, she met one member of the bar staff who was serving a customer.
"I asked if he could come and help me and call an ambulance. He definitely acknowledged me and we made eye contact. He made a gesture with his arm that I would assume would mean 'one minute' but he continued serving regardless”, she said.
Eventually an ambulance was called but Aleisha was told the wait would be four hours.
She said: "I feel that the lack of first aid offered and how it was handled by the staff was appalling."
Since the incident, Premier Inn has said they called an ambulance "at the first opportunity" and noted their doors were not "self-closing".
In panic, Aleisha ran to the police station across the street barefoot, where she was given support by officers.
She said: "They were amazing in the police station. An officer held my son's arm above his head and did first aid treatment to his finger while I was using all my attention to try and comfort him.
"They phoned an ambulance for us and they managed to get that wait time down to 15 minutes. The police officer got into the ambulance and stayed with us until we got medical attention.”
The toddler underwent emergency surgery to save his middle finger, but the family was told it may need amputation in the future if the procedure "wasn’t unsuccessful".
Aleisha said: "The plastic surgeon came out and said she'd done her absolute best to reconnect the nerves and tendons and the top of the finger but that the damage was quite extensive.
"We won't know whether it was successful or may need amputating until a later date.”
Now JJ is feeling better, bandaged and awaiting a follow-up appointment.
"JJ is his funny usual self now. He's getting agitated by his bandage but he's full of life, bubbly, happy.
"I just feel so sorry for him because it was all arranged for his birthday" said his mum.
Aleisha is hoping Premier Inn takes action and is urging them to make their hotel rooms more child-proof.
She said: "If Premier Inn are advertising themselves as family-friendly, they should be child-proofing their rooms.
"The staff should be adequately trained in first aid - and compassion, to be honest. There was no compassion at all.”
Responding to Aleisha's complaints, Premier Inn said their staff are trained in emergency first aid.
A spokesperson said: "We are really sorry to hear of Jace's accident and the upsetting injury unfortunately sustained.
"Our team called an ambulance at the first opportunity. Safety is always our first priority and team members are trained in emergency first aid which covers things like CPR and choking but they are not paramedics and therefore calling an ambulance in this type of extremely rare situation is absolutely the right thing to do for risk of making an injury worse.
"We send our best wishes for a very speedy recovery."
Local Police Commander for Slough, Superintendent Lee Barnham, said: "We can confirm that a number of officers and staff came to the assistance of a mother whose child had suffered a significant injury to their finger.
"The officers and staff acted quickly calling for medical assistance and providing support to the family who were understandably in shock.
"We hope that the child makes a full recovery and we are pleased that our officers and staff were there to assist the family when they were needed."
