A 73-year-old Rutherford man said his experience at Maitland Hospital was "absolutely dreadful", after he was "mucked about" for three days over a serious leg injury. Login or signup to continue reading Peter Hayes went to the emergency department on Monday, on the advice of his GP, seeking treatment for the leg. At the hospital, he was told the leg needed urgent surgery.
Then after three days of waiting, he was allegedly told to "go to the private sector and get it done". The injury was causing him a lot of pain. "I had a slip on the back step at home, hit the side of my leg, tore a muscle and it caused a hematoma," Mr Hayes said.
"It needed to be drained in fear of blood clots." An orthopaedic registrar saw him at Maitland Hospital initially, after a wait of about five hours in emergency. "He took a photo and wrote a few things down and said it needs attention, I'll go see the team," he said.
"He came back and said we think it needs attention today." The registrar returned about 45 minutes later and said "we can't do it today, we haven't got a bed". "He said come in at 7am on Tuesday and we'll do it then," Mr Hayes said.
"On the way home I received a call to say don't come at 7am, we'll be in contact with you but stay fasting from midnight, which I did." After several more changes in the plans for surgery, he was told to fast again from midnight to be ready for Wednesday. "On Wednesday morning, I got a phone call from the hospital about 8.
30am to say it's not on yet and the.