File photo. Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
A man with an infected open wound gave up waiting for medical help after seven hours at Southland Hospital's emergency department.
By the time he was seen the next day, Binn Wharton was nauseous, shaking and needed intravenous antibiotics.
His story comes after it was revealed that in the first eight months of 2023, 24 GP practices and clinics had to reduce hours or close their doors due to critical staff shortages and cost pressures.
Medical professionals said that was putting more pressure on already strained A&Es.
Wharton, a fisherman, grazed his wrist while jumping over a fence.
It was "nothing serious", so he went away crayfishing for five or six days, he said.
"While I was away, she got pretty infected and I just told myself 'I'm going to hospital when I get back to get this checked out'," he told Checkpoint.
He went to Southland Hospital and was triaged at reception, but was then left waiting for seven hours for treatment.
He was given paracetamol and ibuprofen when he asked, but otherwise received no medication.
The emergency department was busy that night, he said, and there were people waiting who had "a lot worse problems", like a woman with a blood clot.
"Her triage number was higher than mine and she still had a wait of, they reckon, another five hours or so, until she got seen, on top of the seven we were all waiting for.
"I just got sick of waiting, I suppose, because I thought maybe I could get into an emergency doctor the next day."
Wharton said he was not registered with a GP because many were not taking new patients.
An off-duty nurse - a family member of Wharton's partner - cleaned his wound the next day.
But he ended up back at the hospital again that night after suffering swelling, nausea and "a real bad fever".
He was "pretty worried", he said: "It takes a lot for me to kind of give in to those things, but the body started to shake and that."
He was given intravenous antibiotics and a prescription.
Wharton was glad he finally got checked out, but said his original seven-hour wait was "pretty ridiculous".
"Nobody should have to wait that long to be seen."
Patient advocate Melissa Vining told Checkpoint she called between 15 and 17 GPs to try and get after-hours care for Wharton after he left the hospital.
However, she was told there was no after-hours service in Invercargill and he needed to return to the ED.
She said his long wait showed an "underlying failure of there being enough staff to do the job".
The entire healthcare system in the region was stretched, not just the hospital, she said.
"A lot of people in Southland are experiencing up to two weeks' wait to get into a GP. Poor Binn, he didn't have two weeks to wait to get an antibiotic."
Vining had seen a photo of Wharton's injury and described it as a "pretty nasty" wound.
"He's a young guy, he's a fisherman, he's not someone who's going to be complaining for the sake of it - he clearly needed it cleaned and needed some medicine.
"If it was my 22-year-old I wouldn't want them at home with an infection where their body was starting to shake and feeling hot."
The hospital has been approached for comment.
