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"Waiting waiting in agony…."

About: Sydney / Sydney Eye Hospital / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

Sydney…. 1st world city. With, in my opinion, a broken public health system. 

I have a steel filing stuck in my eye…pain red swelling.  7 hours sitting in a cold waiting room on a plastic chair -  and still waiting to see a doctor. 

Why? How? 7+ hours so far, waiting with an emergency eye injury.

Why don’t they warn you? 

I get it - it’s a seemingly understaffed system. Huge waiting times. Done- I accept it’s at an apparent 3rd world standard. But how about not making wait in the emergency waiting room with no idea of when we will be seen. Just make appointments for urgent emergency treatment. 

If the system is this dysfunctional- I believe emergency treatment should be by appointment so you don’t waste time. 

Emergency pain agony…. Ok, check in, come back in 10 hours…. 

Thank a lot

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Responses

Response from South Eastern Sydney LHD last week
Submitted on 10/09/2026 at 2:37 PM
Published on Care Opinion Australia at 4:59 PM


Dear lyracz35,

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

We are very sorry to hear you were left waiting so long in pain with a metal foreign body in your eye. A wait of over 7 hours for a serious eye injury of this nature is not the standard of care. We will be raising your feedback with our Emergency Department leadership team, around communication of wait times to patients with urgent presentations, and how these are triaged and monitored while they wait.

If you would like your concerns formally reviewed, please contact us on SESLHD-SSEHConsumerFeedback@health.nsw.gov.au so they can look into the matter further and follow up with you directly. Thank you again for your feedback.

Justin O'Hare

Acting Director of Nursing and Support Services

Dr Pauline Rumma

Director of Clinical Services

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