Health system: Wellington man’s 11-hour wait with sick daughter in emergency department

• A man and his sick daughter waited nearly 11 hours in Wellington Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department
• He described the 11-hour wait as not unusual given what they saw
• The man praised the staff for doing the best they could in the face of a chronic staff shortage

A man and his sick adult daughter forced to wait nearly 11 hours in Wellington Hospital’s emergency waiting room says he reached “the desperation stage”.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald he first took his daughter, in her 20s, to their GP. However, he felt the clinic was under pressure to get them out and they were referred to an already busy Wellington Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department.

His daughter was triaged quickly after they arrived at 10am, but he said they then had to wait for nearly 11 hours.

“It turned out she did need some intravenous antibiotics for what was an infection,” he said.

“It was just the fact that they seemed under-resourced and as a result, even when there were changes in nursing staff and doctors, there wasn’t any communication in terms of whether we were going to be waiting for another hour or longer.

“The choice was to leave or hang in there.”

He said an 11-hour wait was not unusual for what they saw.

“There were people in there who appeared to be in more serious conditions but equally were waiting quite long periods.”

The man said he regularly went up to the desk to try to find out how long the wait would be, but said he was told “it just depends”.

“If you know there was an 11-hour wait, you probably wouldn’t bother waiting. But at the same time, when you have got someone who is ill, and you’re at the desperation stage, you don’t really want to leave.”

When his daughter was eventually seen around 7.30pm, he saw patients who had already gone through but were on beds, parked in corridors.

“They’re not in cubicles but wherever they can put a bed.”

He added he’s not blaming the staff but thinks they are trying to deal with a chronic shortage of staff.

“The charge nurse, when she realised she [my daughter] had been there that long, was apologetic and tried to get a doctor in to see her as soon as possible.”

The pair eventually left the hospital around 9.30pm.

Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley general director of operations Jamie Duncan told the Herald that, like other emergency departments, they continued to see a high demand for services from people with increasingly complex and acute needs.

That was the case particularly in the winter, which could exacerbate staffing pressures caused by annual leave, staff, illness or other personal emergencies.

“These challenges are not new, nor isolated to a particular district or region,” he said.

“The time someone waits in ED [emergency department], both before and after seeing a doctor, can be complex. People are assessed on arrival and prioritised based on their level of clinical need and acuity – not by order of presentation.”

Duncan said emergency departments worked hard to assess, treat and discharge or admit patients within a reasonable timeframe. But high demand could also mean people triaged as less urgent may have to wait longer to see a doctor.

“Our staff strive every day to ensure patients receive the care and support they need. We recognise, however, that it can be frustrating for people to have to spend more time in ED than expected and we empathise with anyone who experiences this.”

David Williams is an Auckland-based Multimedia Journalist who joined the Herald in 2023. He covers breaking news and general topics.

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