"My 23hours in ED in my transfer from a semi-remote hospital"

After an overnight stay in Lake Cargelligo hospital, & a 3hr journey in "patient transfer"(comfort leaving much to be desired), I arrived at Wagga Base Hospital emergency entrance at 3.00pm.

I appeciate it was extra busy as my carers negotiated with my wheelchair through passageways, around seemingly dozens of patients & their carers, waiting & finally being released of my care after 20-30 minutes to the staff of Ambulatory Care.

In this area there were about 28 chairs, of which I had the option of 3. This area is beyond the waiting room,(of similar size), where you go to if you walk off the street to Emergency to be assessed.

While in Ambulatory care, nurses monitor patients regularly, patients can be & are called to interview/treatment rooms, some are able to go home, others to wait for scans or a doctor, or wait for a bed in the ward.

This where I spent 23hours!

At least 6 people slept the night there, including a lady 75/80yrs old that previously had knee reconstruction/ replacement, & came in by ambulance with severe pain.

So when I was allocated a bed in a ward I found a chart noting occupancy of the ward during the few years since its operation, was only 60% at present!

In my opinion, it is totally unacceptable that patients have to wait so long to be processed, just to move to an available bed, or whatever. I was lucky I was mostly pain free, but I feel very much for others where this was not the case.

At no time can I critisize the care & manner of any of the staff, but admire their service & dedication to their position.

At the conclusion of this it is evident to me that the Emergency Department and/or its management is severely undersized, & suggest a capacity increase of at least 50% to be able to cope with maximum peak flow of casualties. 

I am not an authority on these matters as I am only an ordinary country person, and have only seen one day of the operation of this department.

Hoping for improvement, which takes time!