"A 90 minute wait for a 1 minute treatment at Chermside ED."

My partner had an accident drilling, where the drill grabbed and spun around and hit him in the nose, splitting the skin between his nose and his eye.

The cut itself was minor, but of course needed to be glued, stitched or steri-stripped.

We presented to our local ED as there was no GP open (Sunday 3pm).

We sat in the waiting room for 90mins, offered pain relief and tissues (to clean the blood off his face as it continued to bleed). No doctor or nurse actually looked at my partner to see if in fact it did require stitching or just a bandaide. As time went on and the bleeding stopped it the wound started to come together anyway.

Finally we were called into fast track. They gave him a tetanus shots, glued his face and sent us on our way. A 90min wait for a less than one minute procedure.

It was not the quality of care that was the issue in this story - but the ACCESS to the care.