Warning: Some of the injury pictures show graphic content

A MAN experienced a lengthy wait at hospital after severing the ends of his fingertips in an accident involving a chainsaw.

Self-employed woodworker, Kevin Simmonds, of Smithy Lane, Acton, damaged his fingers and knuckles in the accident at around 3pm on Friday.

Father-of-two Mr Simmonds, 53, was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital straight away but after a lengthy wait he was told the specialist surgery he required is not available at Wrexham Maelor, so he travelled to the Countess of Chester Hospital at around 9pm.

There he was told it was too late to do any surgery on his hand, but it was given the correct dressing and he was given the next available surgery slot which was Tuesday morning.

Mr Simmonds says he feels frustrated that he wasn't able to be treated at his nearest hospital, and had to go over the border.

He said: "I accidentally mashed up the ends of three fingers with a 10 inch table saw running a 3mm wide ripsaw blade. It was the last cut of the day and stupidly I took my eye off the blade for a split second.

"It was incredibly painful but I didn't panic - I just did what I could and wrapped a white shirt around it. I must have looked like something out of 'A Game of Thrones'.

"I got to the Maelor and said I was in a lot of pain. They put me through triage and an hour or so later they loosely applied three pieces of wet gauze to the wounds.

"An hour later I had an X-ray, but by 9pm I was being offered two paracetamol for the pain and being told to go to Chester, because no one in Wrexham could treat it."

Mr Simmonds added: "I got to Chester and thought there was no need to wait in reception but had to wait two more hours until eventually they said they knew someone was coming down with a chainsaw injury.

"The X-ray hadn't come through from Wrexham so they had to take another one despite Wrexham assuring me they had sent it.

"Eventually they said it was too late then to do any surgery on it so put the correct dressing on and finger gauze, which they didn't have in Wrexham.

"Chester told me to call and try and get a surgery slot over the weekend but there were no cancellations - Tuesday at 7.30am is the earliest time-slot available, so I'm going then."

Mr Simmonds added that the staff at the Maelor and the Countess were "brilliant", he feels frustrated an injury which could have been seen to within a few hours has hampered him for days, and doesn't want others to go through the same.

He said: "I've had three days with the flesh hanging off down to the first knuckle of three fingers. The top on one finger has already died and needs to come off and will probably be shorter now.

"With regards to the injury, these things happen, which is why I don't panic.

"But this is a first-world country and something like that should have been sorted in a shorter time. I've effectively sat here for three days with an open wound.

"I'm just lucky it was the blade that it was, otherwise the nerves might have been cut but I should make a decent recovery. It was just a stupid, simple mistake."

A statement from a spokesperson at Wrexham Maelor Hospital says: “To clarify, this specialist surgery isn’t provided at Wrexham Maelor Hospital which is why someone with this type of injury would be treated before being referred.”