By Lee Scanlon of 
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"They are going to kill someone."
This from a Westport woman who went to Buller Hospital in pain, was sent home without a diagnosis, called 111 for an ambulance - and had to wait for it to come 100km from Greymouth.
Jacqueline Kirkwood, 84, said she began suffering stomach pain and vomiting about 5pm on Friday, 11 October.
"It was running out like brown gravy, I've never seen anything like it," she said.
Kirkwood, who lives alone, rang Healthline early the next morning. Healthline called an ambulance to take her to Buller Hospital.
Kirkwood said a hospital doctor checked her over but gave her no tests. The doctor was busy seeing patients (the West Coast's urgent weekend GP clinics have been scrapped) and sent her home mid-afternoon without a diagnosis after her condition improved.
Soon afterwards the severe pain and vomiting returned, Kirkwood said.
"I was vomiting until 10.20pm and I thought, I can't have another night like this. I rang 111 and they said they would dispatch an ambulance.
"But they didn't tell me it was coming from Greymouth.
"I was absolutely rocking in pain on the bed. I was vomiting - that can be a symptom of a heart attack. They could have got there and found they had a dead patient."
The ambulance arrived after midnight. Kirkwood said she had no idea it had come 100km from Greymouth until one of the crew made a comment. The Westport ambulance was unavailable because it was transferring a patient to Greymouth, she said.
The Greymouth ambulance took her to Te Nīkau Greymouth Hospital, where she arrived about 3am. She had an X-ray and a scan and was on the operating table at 10.30am for major bowel surgery.
"I had a blockage. The doctor said to me 'You were very, very sick'."
The surgeon removed about 15cm of bowel, she said.
It was Kirkwood's second major bowel operation. She lost 60cm of her bowel to bowel cancer five years ago.
Fortunately, the cancer had not returned, she said.
Speaking today from her hospital bed, Kirkwood said she could not fault the care she had received from Hato Hone St John or from Greymouth Hospital staff.
"The staff are just fantastic."
But she said the delays beforehand could have had serious consequences.
"It's awful, it's scary. Vomiting precedes quite a few things, when you think about it. The outcome could have been so much worse."
She didn't know when she would be able to leave hospital, but did not expect to be home this weekend. She has been told she will take six weeks to recover.
Westport's health system was not working, Kirkwood said.
"I'll get a medical alarm after this ... I've paid taxes all my life, and this is where we end up."
Hato Hone St John and Health NZ West Coast have been approached for comment.
- The Westport News
