A carpenter has slammed hospital bosses after he was forced to wait EIGHT hours in two A&E’s when he chopped off the end of his fingers with an electrical SAW.
Kevin Simmonds, 53, was left in agony for several hours before shockingly being told he would have to go to another hospital as no surgeons were available.
The self-employed woodworker had severed his fingertips with a table saw blade at around 3pm on Friday (5/4) and was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
After a six hour wait he was told the specialist surgery he required was not available there so he was forced to travel 15 miles across the border into England.
Kevin arrived at the Countess of Chester Hospital at around 9pm where he endured another two hour wait before being told it was too late to do any surgery.
He was sent home with a dressing for his mangled hand and was given the next available surgery slot which was not for another four days on Tuesday (9/4).
Today (Thurs) Kevin, of Wrexham, spoke of his anger after nurses only offered him paracetamol for the pain before being sent away with no treatment for the open wound.
The dad-of-two said: “It was the last cut of the day on Friday and stupidly I took my eye off the blade for a split second.
“I left the blade running – it was a stupid mistake.
“I accidentally mashed up the ends of three fingers with a 10 inch table saw running a 3mm wide ripsaw blade.
“It was incredibly painful but I didn’t panic.
“I just did what I could and wrapped a white shirt around it. I must have looked like something out of Game of Thrones.
“I got to the Maelor and said I was in a lot of pain.
“They put me through triage and an hour or so later they loosely applied three pieces of wet gauze to the wounds.
“An hour later I had an X-ray, but by 9pm I was being offered two paracetamol for the pain and being told to go to Chester because no-one in Wrexham could treat it.
“They didn’t even have the right stuff, they had put a bandage on my hand that was meant for legs.
“They had told me at Wrexham there was no damage to the bone but at Chester they said there was.
“I got to Chester and thought there was no need to wait in reception but had to wait two more hours until eventually they said they knew someone was coming down with a saw injury.
“The X-ray hadn’t come through from Wrexham so they had to take another one, despite Wrexham assuring me they had sent it.
“Eventually they said it was too late then to do any surgery on it so put the correct dressing on and finger gauze.
“It was about five days after my injury that my hand was finally stitched up.
“This is a first-world country and something like that should have been sorted in a shorter time.
“I’ve effectively sat here for three days with an open wound.”
Gruesome images taken by Kevin in hospital show chunks of flesh hanging from three of his fingers.
Kevin, who has run JKL Woodcrafts for past four years, added: “In my four years of woodwork I have never had an accident like this.
“I’m a one-man band, so I have to be especially careful but this was a one off.
“It was a Friday afternoon and I think my mind had just wondered, as I was about to go home for the weekend.
“I was making a work station for customer who was wheelchair bound. I just felt a constant throbbing through my hand – it was a horrible feeling.
“I had several days with the flesh hanging off down to the first knuckle of three fingers.
“The top on one finger has already died and needs to come off and will probably be shorter now.”
A Wrexham Maelor Hospital spokesperson said: “To clarify, this specialist surgery isn’t provided at Wrexham Maelor Hospital which is why someone with this type of injury would be treated before being referred.”
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/nhs-demise-incompetence-deliberate-act-capitalist-vandalism/23/01/