ON Sunday, June 23 1996 at 10am, my daughter, who is eight years-old, had an accident causing a severe cut on her arm.

I live very near to Leigh Infirmary so I took her along, to their credit they saw her immediately, however, the cut was too serious for them to deal with. I then had to take her to Wigan Infirmary for treatment.

The journey took 25 minutes in a car, although this could be doubled on a weekday. This length of time is totally unacceptable as the cut on her arm was approximately half way round, exposing tendon and bone. If she had cut the inner arm, she would have stood no chance of reaching Wigan in time.

To the staff at Wigan Infirmary I give credit, as my daughter was seen to immediately by a doctor, X-rayed and diagnosed as needing an operation to repair the damage quickly. The time now being approximately 11.30am.

My daughter was placed on a children's ward and seen by the anaesthetist, who said due to her having eaten at 9am, the closest time for the operation would be 3pm. This we agreed, but unfortunately along came 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, and finally at 8pm she was operated on.

All of this time my child was in pain, scared of the forthcoming operation and extremely anxious, and each delay made the situation worse.

I fell it is totally unacceptable to make child of this age wait 10 hours from the time of the accident for an operation. I know they were busy, however, obviously something is seriously wrong with the system.

Can I say I am in no way blaming all staff who treated my daughter, but the system of:

a) The closure of the accident unit at Leigh, making emergencies travel eight miles to Wigan; and

b) To say that Wigan accident unit and operating theatres can cope with the extra demand is complete rubbish.

One does not realise what a sad state the NHS is in until you have cause to use it.

It's about time the closure of the accident and emergency unit at Leigh was reversed.

Stephen Price

Broadwell Drive, Leigh

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