A GRATEFUL pensioner has thanked a “brilliant” doctor for saving her life after she collapsed in his surgery.

Iolanthe Whitnell, from Lawford, was trying to sign in to an appointment at Lawford Surgery, in Edgefield Avenue, when she collapsed on the floor.

The 82-year-old said:“Dr Ahmad is such a kind man and I cannot thank him enough.

“I could have died.”

Iolanthe’s ordeal happened about two weeks before Christmas and since then has been recovering.

She said both Dr Ahmad and two nurses working at the time came straight to her side to save her.

She needed an oxygen mask to help with her breathing after falling down in the surgery’s reception area.