[Donnah (OP)]

My neighbour fell and drove a stick into the fleshy part of her hand between the thumb and index finger about 10 days ago.  She was on antibiotics for four days, but her hand is still swollen, red, and weeping a lot of pus.  She said bits of bark come out now and again.  It looks very bad to me; the hole looks about the size of a pen.  Is there something she can do to alleviate that, or should she be seeking medical attention again?  Our hospital is small and our doctors seem overworked into the burnout zone.

[RD]

If reluctant to go to an Emergency Room, (aka "A&E") , show it to a GP , they will advise a course of action.
 

You should always get medical advice if the injury:

    does not stop bleeding
    is very large or very deep
    has something embedded in it
    is to an artery or on a joint crease
    is red, sore and painful, or has pus coming out (it may be infected)

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1054.aspx?CategoryID=72&

[Pecos_Bill]

The four cardinal signs of infection are : Calor,turgor,rubor, and dolor (Heat,swelling,redness, and pain) Sounds like you have one there. Phone up your doc and tell him what's going on. If he doesn't want you to be seen right off, then go to Plan B. Plan B is go to his office and lie down on the waiting room floor until somebody looks at that hand.

If it has been more than 10 years since your last tetanus, go to A&E now, show them that hand, and tell them you haven't had your tetanus.

Moreover, I don't know of any antibiotics that are to be taken for only four days. That sounds like very bad juju to me. Tell you doctor that you only took the antibiotics for 4 days.

This is not the time to discuss certain chingaladeras like MRSA or necrotizing fasciitis. Take it from me that treating that hand needs to be done immediately even if it means living on oatmeal for two weeks.

[Bored chemist]

Regular  visitors to this site may have spotted that Bill and i don't always agree.
However in this case I'm happy to say that he's quite right.
I realise the local hospital is busy; but I'm willing to bet that most of the people it is busy treating have less a serious problem than your neighbour.

[Donnah (OP)]

Thank you for the advice, I did my best but failed to convince her to go to the hospital again (we don't have to pay here other than our monthly medicare fee).  I suspect that she was afraid of having her hand cut open to irrigate the wound.  Happily, her hand looks better although bits of bark kept weeping out for weeks.  She is a very independent person and comes from stout stock.