‘He could have just died’: 15-hour hospital wait leaves family fearing the worst
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Seeking medical help in an emergency is meant to bring reassurance, not uncertainty.
But when delays stretch on for hours, the experience can become distressing—especially when every minute counts.
One family's recent ordeal at a South Australian hospital has reignited concerns about wait times and the strain on the state's healthcare system.
A South Australian woman has shared her distressing experience of waiting 15 hours in a hospital emergency department while fearing for her husband's life.
Brigitte Haigh took her husband, Allan, to the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide's northern suburbs after he was referred by a GP and a smaller regional hospital.
Despite arriving at 9:30 pm with a suspected stroke, he was not seen by a doctor, and after waiting until noon the next day, the couple left to seek care elsewhere.
Ms Haigh later took him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he was admitted and remains a week later undergoing tests for a suspected brain tumour.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the state opposition, Ms Haigh described the ordeal as deeply upsetting, saying they were given no indication of how long they would have to wait.
‘We were told we were expected and just to take a seat, it won’t be too long and that’s where we sat all night until 12 o’clock the next morning…when I took Allan out,’ she said.
‘In that time we were not approached by anybody, we were not seen by anybody, we just felt like we were absolute nobodies.’
She said Allan had difficulty walking, could not go to the toilet, and had trouble seeing, yet he received no medical attention during the long wait.
She asked hospital staff multiple times about the wait time but was told they did not know.
‘It was busy, I know that, but when you’ve got a suspected stroke and your husband’s sitting there not able to walk, he couldn’t go to the toilet, he couldn’t see, just totally ignored,’ she said.
She considered leaving earlier but held on, hoping they would soon be seen.
‘He was just beside himself,’ she said.
‘It was awful, I didn’t know where to turn.’
By the early hours of the morning, Allan wanted to go home, and Ms Haigh eventually decided to call the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where staff told her to bring him in.
On the drive, Allan said he was too exhausted to continue and needed to rest, so they stayed at a relative’s house before heading to the hospital the next morning at 7am.
Doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital later ruled out a stroke, but Ms Haigh said she had been terrified during the wait at Lyell McEwin.
‘He could have just died…In a suspected stroke, you only have a small time window and it could have happened any time, he could have just died there,’ she said.
Senior officials from the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN), which runs Lyell McEwin Hospital, apologised to the couple.
NALHN chief executive Karen Puvogel admitted Allan Haigh’s wait time had been unacceptable.
‘We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mr Haigh and his wife,’ she said.
‘Long waits in our waiting room is not what we want for any of our consumers.’
She said the case would be reviewed to determine how his care could have been handled better.
‘We clearly could have done much better in this case.’
NALHN’s acting divisional director of critical care, Dr Aman Anand, said it had been an extremely busy night in the emergency department.
However, he acknowledged the delay was not acceptable.
‘Fifteen hours is not an adequate waiting time for any patients presenting to any emergency department,’ he said.
He would not discuss how Mr Haigh had been triaged but insisted the wait had not worsened his condition.
‘The wait in the ED was not detrimental to the patient in this particular case,’ he said.
The situation has added to growing concerns about the strain on South Australia’s health system.
Shadow health spokesperson Ashton Hurn, who stood alongside Ms Haigh at the press conference, criticised the state government for failing to address the issue.
‘We cannot afford to have a situation where people are losing confidence in going to our hospitals like the Lyell McEwin Hospital,’ she said.
‘We need those hospitals to be performing at full capacity.’
She said ambulance ramping was worsening across Adelaide and putting further pressure on emergency departments.
In January 2025, patients spent 472 hours ramped outside the Lyell McEwin Hospital in ambulances, up from 409 hours the month before, according to SA Health data.
Across all Adelaide hospitals, ambulance ramping rose to 3,479 hours from 3,411 hours in the same period.
Health Minister Chris Picton acknowledged the delays were concerning but said the government was working to expand hospital capacity.
‘In relation to the Haigh family, my office spoke to them on Friday, and we committed to making sure that we can have a proper investigation with the clinicians,’ he said.
He said 48 additional beds had already been opened at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, with more to come this year.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) SA recently warned that South Australia's emergency departments were ‘performing at their worst levels in recent history’.
According to the AMA’s latest Public Hospital Report Card, only 38 per cent of category three emergency patients in SA were seen within the recommended 30-minute timeframe in 2023 to 2024.
That figure was well below the national average of 60 per cent and had fallen significantly from a decade ago when 65 per cent of patients in the same category were seen within 30 minutes.
AMA SA president Dr John Williams said despite the hard work of hospital staff, the system was failing patients.
‘Despite the best efforts of our hardworking doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, South Australian patients are not receiving the standard of care they deserve,’ he said.
Mr Picton said this was why the government was continuing to invest in hospital infrastructure and staffing.
‘That’s why we are investing in our healthcare system to make sure that there is more capacity for increasing numbers of patients who are coming to receive treatment from our emergency departments,’ he said.
The hospital has since responded to the incident, acknowledging the long wait time and pledging to review its processes.
Watch the full report in the video below.
With emergency wait times worsening, do you think South Australia’s healthcare system is doing enough to keep up with demand? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
But when delays stretch on for hours, the experience can become distressing—especially when every minute counts.
One family's recent ordeal at a South Australian hospital has reignited concerns about wait times and the strain on the state's healthcare system.
A South Australian woman has shared her distressing experience of waiting 15 hours in a hospital emergency department while fearing for her husband's life.
Brigitte Haigh took her husband, Allan, to the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide's northern suburbs after he was referred by a GP and a smaller regional hospital.
Despite arriving at 9:30 pm with a suspected stroke, he was not seen by a doctor, and after waiting until noon the next day, the couple left to seek care elsewhere.
SA woman shares hospital wait ordeal. Image source: Brigitte Haigh
Ms Haigh later took him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he was admitted and remains a week later undergoing tests for a suspected brain tumour.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the state opposition, Ms Haigh described the ordeal as deeply upsetting, saying they were given no indication of how long they would have to wait.
‘We were told we were expected and just to take a seat, it won’t be too long and that’s where we sat all night until 12 o’clock the next morning…when I took Allan out,’ she said.
‘In that time we were not approached by anybody, we were not seen by anybody, we just felt like we were absolute nobodies.’
She said Allan had difficulty walking, could not go to the toilet, and had trouble seeing, yet he received no medical attention during the long wait.
She asked hospital staff multiple times about the wait time but was told they did not know.
‘It was busy, I know that, but when you’ve got a suspected stroke and your husband’s sitting there not able to walk, he couldn’t go to the toilet, he couldn’t see, just totally ignored,’ she said.
She considered leaving earlier but held on, hoping they would soon be seen.
‘He was just beside himself,’ she said.
‘It was awful, I didn’t know where to turn.’
By the early hours of the morning, Allan wanted to go home, and Ms Haigh eventually decided to call the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where staff told her to bring him in.
On the drive, Allan said he was too exhausted to continue and needed to rest, so they stayed at a relative’s house before heading to the hospital the next morning at 7am.
Doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital later ruled out a stroke, but Ms Haigh said she had been terrified during the wait at Lyell McEwin.
‘He could have just died…In a suspected stroke, you only have a small time window and it could have happened any time, he could have just died there,’ she said.
Senior officials from the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN), which runs Lyell McEwin Hospital, apologised to the couple.
NALHN chief executive Karen Puvogel admitted Allan Haigh’s wait time had been unacceptable.
‘We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mr Haigh and his wife,’ she said.
‘Long waits in our waiting room is not what we want for any of our consumers.’
She said the case would be reviewed to determine how his care could have been handled better.
‘We clearly could have done much better in this case.’
NALHN’s acting divisional director of critical care, Dr Aman Anand, said it had been an extremely busy night in the emergency department.
However, he acknowledged the delay was not acceptable.
‘Fifteen hours is not an adequate waiting time for any patients presenting to any emergency department,’ he said.
He would not discuss how Mr Haigh had been triaged but insisted the wait had not worsened his condition.
‘The wait in the ED was not detrimental to the patient in this particular case,’ he said.
The situation has added to growing concerns about the strain on South Australia’s health system.
Shadow health spokesperson Ashton Hurn, who stood alongside Ms Haigh at the press conference, criticised the state government for failing to address the issue.
‘We cannot afford to have a situation where people are losing confidence in going to our hospitals like the Lyell McEwin Hospital,’ she said.
‘We need those hospitals to be performing at full capacity.’
She said ambulance ramping was worsening across Adelaide and putting further pressure on emergency departments.
In January 2025, patients spent 472 hours ramped outside the Lyell McEwin Hospital in ambulances, up from 409 hours the month before, according to SA Health data.
Across all Adelaide hospitals, ambulance ramping rose to 3,479 hours from 3,411 hours in the same period.
Health Minister Chris Picton acknowledged the delays were concerning but said the government was working to expand hospital capacity.
‘In relation to the Haigh family, my office spoke to them on Friday, and we committed to making sure that we can have a proper investigation with the clinicians,’ he said.
He said 48 additional beds had already been opened at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, with more to come this year.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) SA recently warned that South Australia's emergency departments were ‘performing at their worst levels in recent history’.
According to the AMA’s latest Public Hospital Report Card, only 38 per cent of category three emergency patients in SA were seen within the recommended 30-minute timeframe in 2023 to 2024.
That figure was well below the national average of 60 per cent and had fallen significantly from a decade ago when 65 per cent of patients in the same category were seen within 30 minutes.
AMA SA president Dr John Williams said despite the hard work of hospital staff, the system was failing patients.
‘Despite the best efforts of our hardworking doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, South Australian patients are not receiving the standard of care they deserve,’ he said.
Mr Picton said this was why the government was continuing to invest in hospital infrastructure and staffing.
‘That’s why we are investing in our healthcare system to make sure that there is more capacity for increasing numbers of patients who are coming to receive treatment from our emergency departments,’ he said.
The hospital has since responded to the incident, acknowledging the long wait time and pledging to review its processes.
Watch the full report in the video below.
With emergency wait times worsening, do you think South Australia’s healthcare system is doing enough to keep up with demand? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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, they keep me grounded, and I love them for that. There are times little things bring back memories of happy times we had .
