A HOSPITAL horror story has further highlighted the desperate need for improvement to clinical services in Bathurst.
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It has been revealed that it took four days for a Bathurst woman, aged in her sixties, to undergo surgery to address a wrist injury.
The story was shared by councillor Warren Aubin at Wednesday night's meeting of Bathurst Regional Council.
He told the room that the woman was taken to Bathurst hospital via ambulance one Sunday night after falling over in her home.
The events that followed came as a huge shock.
After having an X-ray and waiting for more information, a back slab cast was put around her wrist at 2am on Monday and she was told to come back on Tuesday to have the break set.
"They rang her on the Tuesday and said 'Unfortunately, the break is worse than we first thought. You'll have to go to Orange and have an operation". That was on the Tuesday morning," Cr Aubin said.
"On the Tuesday afternoon, they rang her back and said 'Sorry, we're going to try to do it in Bathurst on Wednesday'."
As she was due to have surgery, the woman was asked to fast from 8am.
Cr Aubin said the woman got another call on Wednesday morning, the day of her surgery, to inform her that the operation had been cancelled due to a lack of beds.
During that phone call, she was told that the operation would now be done in Orange, but as there were also no beds there, the time of the surgery was unknown.
Later that same day, she recieved another phone call asking her to come to Orange as soon as possible for surgery.
She and her husband drove to Orange, with the woman having to fast again, but just before 7pm she was told to go home because the operation had again been cancelled as there were no beds available.
On Thursday, four days after breaking her wrist, the woman was again asked to come to Orange for her surgery, which finally occurred sometime that day.
Cr Aubin said this was just one of the many stories that were coming to light about the current state of health services in Bathurst.
"This is what we're dealing with," he said.
"It's absolute rubbish. This city does not deserve the poor health centre that we've got up there, it's just not on."
"That's why I'm taking it a bit further and banging on to get more services here, because at the moment it is terrible."
Cr Aubin, who recently started a community action group to fight the issue, has also received more support from two of his colleagues, councillors Ian North and Jess Jennings.
Cr North has now requested that Bathurst Regional Council call a public meeting and invite member for Bathurst Paul Toole and member for Calare Andrew Gee to attend, so they can hear these kinds of stories first-hand.
"This problem has been going on for years," he said.
"Council needs to lead the charge here, invite both the state and federal members, and we start pushing the button."