A MAN who sliced his arm down to the bone with a chainsaw in a serious work accident says he was turned away by both his local surgeries, despite the fact that he was dripping with blood.

Larry Smith, 62, from Fairford, was felling trees just around the corner from Lechlade Medical Centre at the end of March when an accident with a chainsaw left him with a gash in his arm all the way down to the bone.

He raced on foot to the nearby Lechlade Medical Centre but says he was turned away by staff because he was not a registered patient.

“Being a first responder I knew I’d done something serious to my arm,” said Larry. “I knew it was repairable but it needed immediate bandaging first."

A first responder is trained for attending the scene of local medical emergencies before an ambulance can get there.

Larry said he did not rush to the hospital right away because he knew his wound needed bandaging first.

“I couldn’t believe I was turned away. I was actually bleeding on their floor.”

Larry then drove himself to Fairford surgery, where he is a registered patient, but was again turned away because staff were too busy.

“I finally went to Boots pharmacy and patched myself up,” he said. “I then realised I shouldn’t be driving so I got my wife to take me to the hospital.”

He came out of Cirencester Hospital with 10 stitches in the wound and is now left with a long scar down his arm.

Neither Lechlade Medical Centre nor Fairford surgery was prepared to comment on the matter this week.