"The situation is fairly traumatic, and yet we have no resolution"

My husband had an accident to his hand, it was crushed, and three fingers have deep wounds. We went to the emergency department, who sent us to the Sydney Eye Hospital. We were told by the ED staff the night before, that we were listed for surgery, in the day procedure unit, and to be there at 7am. We were here by 6am and are still waiting. So far the wait has been over 7 hours, and no one seems to be able to tell us anything. When I’ve questioned the staff as to the delay, I’m told that there have been some emergencies, and they have a higher priority than we do, yet, since I’ve been here since 6am, I’ve seen people go in ahead of us that appear to be having elective surgery – one person was having carpal tunnel surgery. How is that an emergency? And the thing is we were sent here, from the emergency department!

In anticipation of surgery, my husband has been nil by mouth since midnight, and we still have no idea if he will receive surgery today or not. We have been told by a member of staff, that sometimes patients can be waiting up to three days! They just have to keep coming back in the hope that this will be their day.

All the staff have been polite and professional, and I can see how busy they all are, but this just doesn’t seem good enough. The whole incident has been traumatic enough, and then to not know what will happen, or what is going on, just makes the matter so much worse. The only positive thing has been that they have given my husband some pain relief. With the lack of communication, and not knowing who I can speak to about this, or how I can get some resolution, I am at my wit’s end! I just want resolution to this situation.