'Sorry' hospital tells woman after nearly two-week wait with broken ankle

Elfi Oehlzelt was brought to the hospital by ambulance about 6pm on December 20, with an expectation of being discharged before Christmas.

However, she has languished on a waitlist, along with up to 30 people other people in need of urgent surgical attention in orthopaedics alone, with just one operating theatre in action at the newly refurbished facility.

During her wait for surgery, Mrs Oehlzelt developed ulcers under a temporary cast and has endured multiple overnight fasts.

"I wasn't the only one, they had a line up of about 30 orthopaedics because only one theatre was working," Mrs Oehlzelt said.

A second operating theatre was then opened, but those in need of more urgent hip operations went through first, she said.

After contacting the Newcastle Herald and numerous authorities, including the Health Care Complaints Commission, Mrs Oehlzelt went into surgery on Tuesday night.

She then received a visit from hospital management, she said.

"I had three people from management down here apologising and trying to explain what happened, that it had never happened before, that this many breaks had never come in over this period, but I have heard this has happened before," she said.

The clinical staff, doctors and nurses, had been fantastic Mrs Oehltzelt said, sharing her frustration with the situation.

Maitland Hospital's acting general manager, Paula Richards, said she understood some patients "had waited longer than they would have liked".

"While we do our best to provide timely access to surgical care, we know that some patients have waited longer than they would have liked, and I apologise if we have not met patient expectations," she said.

"I would like to thank our staff at Maitland Hospital who are working over the holiday period to ensure our local communities have access to high quality healthcare."

The hospital had planned for reduced surgery activity to enable staff to take a well-deserved break over the festive period following "another busy and challenging year", she said.

"However, due to an increase in demand, theatre capacity was increased to enable additional urgent surgery to be undertaken."

Mrs Oehlzelt said she was told next Christmas "will be a lot better".

Hunter New England Health has confirmed masks are once again mandatory at John Hunter Hospital following an outbreak of COVID-19 cases affecting a number of patients, as well as staff.

The directive was issued on Tuesday for all staff and visitors in clinical and patient-facing areas.

"Several patients have either tested positive for COVID-19 or are a close contact, and some of our staff have been furloughed due to illness," a statement from Hunter New England Health said yesterday.

"We will continue to assess the need for mask-wearing to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors."

Meanwhile, the community was being urged to stay home if they have cold or flu-like symptoms, and asked not to visit people in high risk settings like hospitals, aged and disability care facilities, as well as to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations.

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