SA Health apologises to man waiting nine days at RAH for broken leg surgeryBy Jodie HamiltonABC Eyre PeninsulaTopic:Public Health54m ago54 minutes agoTue 13 May 2025 at 5:43amStephen Rees says his children, including three-year-old Harper, missed him while he was in hospital. (Supplied)In short:A Port Lincoln footballer injured on May 3 spent nine days waiting for surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.SA Health says he was ready for surgery six days after his injury, but a high demand from trauma patients to the emergency department caused his surgery to be delayed.What's next?The amateur footballer was scheduled for surgery today. He says it will be several months before he can return to work.abc.net.au/news/man-with-broken-leg-left-waiting-at-rah-for-surgery-9-days/105286150Link copiedShareShare articleSA Health has apologised to a Port Lincoln man left waiting nine days for surgery on his broken leg at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.Stephen Rees, a father of two toddlers, was airlifted from Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula to the RAH on May 4 after shattering bones in his lower leg and severely dislocating his ankle in a football game the day before.Central Adelaide Local Health Network's executive director of operations and performance, Rachael Kay, said the medical team had assessed his injury each day and "determined that he was clinically ready for surgery on Friday, May 9"."Unfortunately, high demand from trauma patients presenting to the emergency department resulted in his surgery being rescheduled on Friday and across the weekend," she said."I would like to apologise to Mr Rees and understand this must be frustrating."Stephen Rees had his leg operated on Tuesday morning after a nine-day wait. (Supplied)Mr Rees said he had fasted each morning and sometimes all day in preparation for surgery but was bumped each time by a more urgent case."[I'm] fed up — I just want to get home and see my family," he said."I've got a one-year-old and a three-year-old and they're missing me, and my poor wife, she's having a hard time herself."After a nine-day wait, Mr Rees was wheeled in for surgery on Tuesday morning and the operation went well.Family explores private health The day before, Mr Rees was told the RAH was looking into having him transferred to a private hospital for the operation, where he understood it would be paid for by the public health system.Prior to this, Mr Rees' family had been making enquiries about getting the surgery done privately despite him not having private cover just to get him home. "You wouldn't expect to have to be faced with trying to find your own option and paying for it yourself to get your leg fixed, but enough's enough," Mr Rees said."Other than that, my options were to sit here and wait."I've just sort of had enough … they kept bumping me and saying there are other more important cases than me even though I've been here for over a week."Mr Rees said two leg bones needed to be screwed back together because they were separated."The small bone in my leg is shattered, essentially, so they need to piece it back together and [put in] a couple of plates and a heap of screws," he said.Mr Rees said one of the nurses had advised him generally, after three days, a patient's case was escalated to improve the chances of surgery.Posted 54m ago54 minutes agoTue 13 May 2025 at 5:43amShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesSussan Ley rejects her Liberal leadership victory is a 'glass cliff' appointmentLIVEPhoto shows Susan Ley talks while standing behind a lectern. 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