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The response here is basic however, it does address the basic issue. It was good to see that the issue was resolved over the phone as per the second response, which shows that the hospital was concerned about the issue and was trying their best to resolve the same.

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I was moved from another centre over to the Eudoria Street clinic some months ago seeking help and was placed with a psychiatrist who refused to use my preferred name in appointments and consistently dead-named me and used incorrect pronouns (instead of they/them) when discussing me with my supporti…

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The responder to the complaint did a great job in acknowledging the patient's bad experience at the hospital and provided reassurance that the issues raised would be taken seriously. The response also provided the contact information and number for the them to contact in order to discuss the matter in full details and resolve any outstanding issues. The tone of the response was sincere and did not feel generic.

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Mid-last year, my doctor sent me to Northam Hospital as I was coughing uncontrollably and struggling to catch my breath and had extreme pain in my left lower rib, they had given me pain killers before I left, my cough was not a loud booming cough, when I breathed out I would cough.

Waiting in the ED at Northam on my own, a doctor approached me and I recall they said, I haven't seen you cough once since you got here and asked why I was there, I relayed the coughing and the sore ribs, I mentioned that I had a small cough on and off for about 8 months, came and went and had gotten bad that day, I was struggling to form a sentence. I felt the doctor was clearly annoyed and seemingly sarcastic, they said your doctor has asked for a scan to be done, they all went home at 5 and would now have to be called back in, then the doc left.

Another doctor walked past me twice and said both times, I have not seen you cough once, making me feel completely humiliated and though I was hypercondric. I was not told if I was having a scan or not, I was then ushered in for a very rushed chest xray by a seemingly very agitated xray operator. After the scan, a nurse came up to me with a needle and pills, they went to jab me in the arm with the needle before I stopped them and asked what it was, I also had to ask twice what the pills were for, clearly it seemed to me I was still being treated as a hypercondric, I was given medication for heartburn/ indigestion and a liquid to help my sore throat, I didn't have a sore throat. My scan came back and a third doctor said there's nothing on your scan, could be my bowel was high on the left and was pushing on my diaphragm and into my lung possibly making me cough, possibly broken rib or damaged muscle between the rib, follow up with your GP and sent me home with Nurofen and indigestion tablets.

Not wanting to go back to ED being made to think theres nothing wrong with me, 24 hours later I was admitted to another hospital's ED, same symptoms, CT chest only scan revealed I had blood clotts in both lungs and a portion of my left lung had died, was put on blood thinners and sent home, two weeks later I was sent for another full body CT scan at Northam Hospital by my doctor, as I was experiencing abdominal issues, I was contacted by my doctor and the Northam radiologist to go immediately to the ED. After waiting many hours I was told I had a large mass on my left ovary. A few months later I was told I have terminal ovarian cancer.

Of all the patient's in the Northam ED on that night mid-last year, I feel I needed help the most, I was made to feel like a total idiot, hypercondric and I was wasting their time. Since that night, I have not had any issues with the Doctors or Nursing staff at Northam.

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Mid-last year, my doctor sent me to Northam Hospital as I was coughing uncontrollably and struggling to catch my breath and had extreme pain in my left lower rib, they had given me pain killers before I left, my cough was not a loud booming cough, when I breathed out I would cough.

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The response to the complaint raised in post felt very generic. Though it did acknowledge the person's experience, the response did not convey a genuine one. It has provided information that complaint will be forwarded to relevant manager for action but does not seem to include that a follow up will be done to ensure that it is indeed actioned and taken seriously. It also encouraged the complainant to call or email directly should they want them to "look into this particular situation more thoroughly" which I feel does not reassure the complainant that he/she needs to do more for anything to be done.

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Absolutely appalling "care", in my opinion.

Got transferred to ward 3 one evening, no nurse arrived or introduced themselves, no pain relief given or Observations taken till mid-morning the next day. I felt there was no patient centred care shown at all! It seemed to me the miss communication here is impeccable, say they will do something 4hrs later still waiting for pain relief. Nurses rolling eyes and scuffing at me, I recall one nurse snapped at me for asking to point me in the direction of the towels/ clean gowns when my loved one was covered in their urine and needed a shower that I had to fully assist with.. I believe doctors and nurses ignored the patients concerns about their situation getting worse, didn't once look at the problem I kept complaining about. I had to physically assist my love one with everything from walking, toileting showering, and re-covering bleeding and dressings. I asked to speak to the NUM and clinical nurse in change and they never showed, it seemed I was given excuse after excuse.. Requested a transfer to a regional hospital closer to home, the doctors refused and said it wasn't necessary even though I felt as though my loved one wasn't receiving appropriate care.

As a healthcare worker I am very disappointed and concerned for other patients who don't have someone with them who is able to advocate and help assist with all personal care.

Absolutely disgusted in this experience, as someone from the country with no family within the Perth regions and who had no transportation or accommodation since being flown to Perth, I felt they showed no care or compassion.

I felt this experience was beyond a joke.

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Absolutely appalling "care", in my opinion. Got transferred to ward 3 one evening, no nurse arrived or introduced themselves, no pain relief given or Observations taken till mid-morning the next day. I felt there was no patient centred care shown at all!

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https://www.careopinion.org.au/91075

This was quite a complicated complaint raising a number of issues across multiple admissions. While I do think the response on this website was adequate, it was just an initial response stating that an investigation would occur. I do think the seriousness of the complaint was slightly downplayed, given there was the potential for liver mets to be not diagnosed.

As it is only an initial response, it is hard to fully judge the response to this complaint. However there are positive signs as they have discussed that there will be an investigation and the CEO will meet with the patient soon.

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I am writing to share my recent experience at CGHS.

Late last year I had an appointment with a Gastroenterologist who referred me to CGHS for a Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy as a Category 2 patient. A few months later, I had not heard anything from the hospital so followed up as my symptoms were worsening. I was advised then that I had been on the waiting list for just over 40 days (despite being referred over 100 days prior) and it would be at least another 60 days before I would receive a call from the nurse. What I am struggling to understand is why I seemingly only made it to the waiting list early this year, when my referral was sent late last year.

Last month I presented to A&E at approximately midday with excruciating stomach pain. On this occasion I sat in the waiting room for 6 hours, in agonizing pain with minimal pain relief.

I saw a Dr who I felt minimized my symptoms and was intending to send me home with pain relief to await my procedure a few weeks later. I had been experiencing intermittent pain for several weeks but this was on a different scale and knowing in myself something was not right I insisted on a CT scan before being sent home.

4 hours into my wait my pain was increasing and becoming unbearable and a friend supporting me had requested more pain relief which I did not receive after waiting more than 2 hours.

In the evening I was called into the triage room expecting that I was finally going to receive the pain relief I had been waiting for. I was met by the Dr I had seen earlier along with a second Dr. I noticed they both stood in uncomfortable silence until who I assume was the senior Dr stated "they are your patient you tell them". The Dr went on to advise they had bad news and that the CT scan showed what they believe to be cancer in my bowel and stated that a surgeon would be in to see me soon.

I felt the way in which this news was delivered and the environment I was in was entirely inappropriate and showed an absolute lack of empathy for the life changing news that I was receiving. I believe that I would have been sent back into the waiting room without the intervention of my friend who insisted on us being provided with a private space so that I could process the diagnosis and manage the shock.

I was admitted then in preparation for a colonoscopy the following day. The following morning I felt I was well supported by the staff on the Surgical Ward as I underwent the bowel prep and had the procedure late that afternoon. I stayed the night and was discharged the following day with a script for 10 Endone (I believe nowhere near sufficient for a 4 day long weekend) and a referral for a PET scan.

When I got home I opened the PET referral and read that they were investigating a likely malignant tumor in my bowel and possible Liver METS. Reading this referral was the first time I was aware that there were suspected Liver METS, at no stage did anyone discuss this with me in person. I feel to read this on a public holiday in my home is totally unacceptable and led to significant anxiety and distress over the long weekend. I believe I should not have had to find out that I have potentially life changing Liver METS on a piece of paper.

Several days I presented to A&E again in severe pain. I saw a Dr who made me go through my whole 18 month history of bowel issues despite already having received a cancer diagnosis a week prior and advised that I just needed to continue to take endone. I again sat in the waiting room with, I felt, insufficient pain relief and was advised I could not have anything more as there was not a bed available.

A friend was advocating for me as I was in too much pain to effectively communicate for myself. My friend asked to speak with the doctor and requested pain relief and another CT scan to identify or rule out a potential bowel obstruction (a complication I was advised was likely to occur given the location of the tumor).

The doctor advised my friend that they had offered me pain relief and I had declined - I believe this is an outright lie. The doctor also advised a CT was not necessary as they could hear some bowel sounds. I was placed in a bed and provided with additional pain relief and an Xray (not CT) was done. The surgeon came to see me and advised the Xray was clear and there was no point doing a CT as things would not look different a week later. I was discharged with additional Endone to be taken as an increased dose. I felt extremely dismissed.

I spent the next day in significant pain and on the following day my partner called an ambulance as the pain had become so unbearable. With no available ambulance transport my partner drove me. On arrival the triage nurse Cass was fast to act. A CT scan was ordered and a bowel obstruction was identified. It is likely this obstruction had been there since my presentation two days prior but as my request for a CT was seemingly dismissed this was not identified.

I was admitted and underwent a bowel resection the following morning. I had a myriad of surgeons come and see me and it felt like there was no consistency and I was not receiving any information which caused a lot of unnecessary stress.

I am wanting to understand what happened with my referral, the wait list and the delay in my procedure being booked as this has potentially led to an incurable spread of disease that has now changed my future.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss further.

Whilst in hospital had an MRI on my liver to investigate possible METS that showed on a CT. I was advised by my surgeon afterwards that the MRI was clear and there was no spread to liver - what a relief.

After discharge I opted to have a PET scan as an additional precaution. The PET showed liver metastases.

I had an appointment with a liver specialist in Melbourne recently who advised that the MRI in Sale had been "stuffed up" and the incorrect sequences were taken resulting in the cancer not being detected.

Had I not advocated for a PET scan this would have gone undetected.

I recall the specialist was also alarmed that I was not discharged with the standard 28 days of clexane. I queried this on discharge as I have a history of DVT and was advised by the surgical registrar that it was not necessary.

I believe this is yet another example of an apparent lack of care that has placed me at an unnecessary risk of further complications.

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Cancer diagnosis and incorrect MRI results

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I am writing to share my recent experience at CGHS. Late last year I had an appointment with a Gastroenterologist who referred me to CGHS for a Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy as a Category 2 patient. A few months later, I had not heard anything from the hospital so followed up as my symptoms were worsening.

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I thought the response was considerate, demonstrated genuine concern for the patient, and restraint because the complainant has not given any actual facts, no specific details, refers to historic issues, and I was baffled as to the main issue. The responder has invited the complainant to provide thos details in order that the key issue may be identified and investigated.

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I have lived in Rockingham for a number of years. During that time, I have found staff at the RGH Emergency Ward, in particular Triage Nurses, are seemingly mocking & dismissive of Plastic Surgery issues. Mutual respect. Simply forward the Ultrasound results to the corresponding Surgeon. I was outrightly refused Medical Treatment in the past. A Hospital letter of apology was received. This time no apologies. Based on my experience, these Nurses are not who I want around in dire times. I wonder did someone miss the Socrates's Oath here? I felt humiliated and degraded on several levels.

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I have lived in Rockingham for a number of years. During that time, I have found staff at the RGH Emergency Ward, in particular Triage Nurses, are seemingly mocking & dismissive of Plastic Surgery issues. Mutual respect. Simply forward the Ultrasound results to the corresponding Surgeon.

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This is a good response as it includes acknowledgement and apology for what the complainant experienced. There is a plan to further discussion and what to improve in the future also included in the response. Detail of a contact also provided for collecting more feedback from the complainant.

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My child was brought into the emergency room after suffering an injury. Dr Doug was amazing, thorough and was a very good communicator and should be commended. Our Nurse came in and started talking back to the doctor and I believe was extremely unprofessional and (honestly) made no sense and made a scene that I felt was embarrassing. Dr Doug was good about it and tried to diffuse the situation but due to what I felt was the Nurses lack of professionalism we felt very poorly taken care of. Dr Doug spent most of his time coming back to check on us because it seemed to me he felt the Nurse wasn't exactly capable. We were able to see them do the same to other patients in the wing, delaying treatment and just being what I felt was an obnoxious individual.

The other patients and I decided as a group we should say something because honestly, the nurse was terrible- no compassion and no respect. One lovely female nurse told us that's just the way the other nurse is... I asked if there was an avenue to raise a complaint and was informed about this website. I know you are short of Nurses, but you need Nurses, not someone with an apparent chip on their shoulder. I wish Dr Doug all the praise in the world and hope you move the nurse into a non clinical area.

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Great medical care- poor quality nursing

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My child was brought into the emergency room after suffering an injury. Dr Doug was amazing, thorough and was a very good communicator and should be commended. Our Nurse came in and started talking back to the doctor and I believe was extremely unprofessional and (honestly) made no sense and made a scene that I felt was embarrassing.

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The response explained why the issue happened and seemed like give excuses. It did not provide a way in which this issue can be resolved in future. They did not say what initiatives they are taking to prevent this from happening in the future.

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Beautiful heartfelt response - acknowledging the staff member involved, the values of the hospital and made it personal and specific to the family.

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Feedback on response of privacy concerns

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Feedback on response of privacy concerns

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https://www.careopinion.org.au/91264

This response could be improved especially when reading others. First of all their username is used and the individual is thanked for providing feedback, but after that the General Manager begins to explain that ED’s are busy which almost validates this persons poor experience. Which is likely not to help the individual. They also did not provide an opportunity/contact for this matter to be discussed further. Reading other responses I also found it beneficial to have a photo of the person responding as it feels more authentic, which this response did not

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I think the response to this concern expressed from a patient's family is a good example of improving complainant satisfaction. The responder clearly specified her role and how she is related to the case. She also acknowledged how the complainant felt and offered a sincere apology. They also provided a direct contact line to discuss this concern further with the direct ward that is involved. They also provided information about the service, Aishwarya's care to which the complainants can contact in the future, if they are unsatisfied with care provided by the hospitals in Midwest.

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My adult child was recently admitted, via Ambulance, to Geraldton regional hospital after an attempted suicide, when the Ambulance arrive on site my child was unconscious and barely breathing. When admitted to Emergency the hospital staff, Nurses and Doctors we fantastic, bought them back to conscious and looked after them very well. The Attending Doctor and the ER nurses we were dealing with advised that my child would need mental help to get through this, we agreed. My child was admitted to the wards awaiting physical recovery and we thought they would get some help with their mental illness, but we were so wrong.

After the mental health team had assessed my child, they said my child was good to go home, we disagreed as did another staff member, who I believe put in an official complaint about the Reponses given by the mental health team. They agreed to assess my child again the next day and even though my child was threatening self-harm and harm to others, their diagnosis was it was just an emotional outburst and recommended that my child went to step up - step down, which would have been fine (maybe), apart from the fact that the trigger for the problem was working there. We requested that my child be put under psychiatric care in a hospital until they could be diagnosed and stabilized, we were advised to drive down to Perth and try and self-admit at emergency at another hospital, I felt it was a joke!

My adult child went to an appointment drug and alcohol and to GRH for a scheduled appointment with a doctor, the treating doctor recommended that they get assistance from mental health, a mental health team attended with the same result or lack thereof as the previous two encounters. Now my child is in remand for assault amongst other thing- the problem is that my child has just done what they said they would do that was either commit suicide and or assault their ex. All it seems we see on tv is if you have mental health issue then get help and here, we are trying to get help and I feel we are being ignored. If my child's mental health assessment were carried out correctly then I believe my child, their ex and both families would not be in the very bad situation they are in. In my opinion, there was a lack of medical help that my child should have received.

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My adult child was recently admitted, via Ambulance, to Geraldton regional hospital after an attempted suicide, when the Ambulance arrive on site my child was unconscious and barely breathing. When admitted to Emergency the hospital staff, Nurses and Doctors we fantastic, bought them back to conscious and looked after them very well.

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I think the response to this parent is very well written. It apologises for her experience and reassures her that this is not the care her family should have received. The response gives the complainant a direct line of contact to discuss further and the writer has encouraged this person to do so which shows that they genuinely care for this persons experience.

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My partner and I took our young toddler into the local emergency department, to get checked mostly as a precaution after a small incident.

We were greeted with a lovely nurse at triage and was told to wait, which was fine.

We go in to get our child checked by the Dr - one we haven't met before. All was fine until the Dr started to examine our child's body. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary from what I was witnessing however my child started screaming in fear. I know the way my child cries/screams when they are afraid and this was it to the point they were hyperventilating and screaming. Now this is where my issue lies.

Unlike you'd assume most people would do, which would be to lower your voice and talk calmly and give the child space - this Dr raised their voice to the point I'd describe it as yelling as they spoke to us and advised us it was okay to head home. The Dr didn't give my child space whilst I held them and I had to remove my child from being close to them as my child was visibly distressed by this Dr. I recll the Dr continued to yell 'Bye bye bye' in a seemingly very unfriendly, abrupt manner as we left the room. Enough, I believe, to make any adult think 'what the heck?!'.

I'm unsure if it was a complete lack of bedside manner skills or understanding of young children, or if the Dr was offended they'd made my young child upset and raised their voice in a passive aggressive way. Either way, the Dr made us as parents feel very uncomfortable and upset over the experience and very visibly upset my child to a great extent and didn't seem to feel the need to defuse the situation, but instead escalated their behaviour to be more extreme.

I understand young children cry at things easily, but I felt it was the way the Dr dealt with it that was disappointing and quite frankly, disturbing.

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My partner and I took our young toddler into the local emergency department, to get checked mostly as a precaution after a small incident. We were greeted with a lovely nurse at triage and was told to wait, which was fine. We go in to get our child checked by the Dr - one we haven't met before.

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https://www.careopinion.org.au/91228

Bad response. By my count there are 7 issues within the patients complaint letter. The response has been sent by someone of unknown title and only addresses 1 of the issues (pain). The response does thank the complainant for taking the time to make this complaint (which most seem to do) and offers an alternate contact method if the complainant wishes to expand on the concerns but the response is overly short, lacks empathy, fails to express feeling of regret and seems more like a dismissal than a true response statement. Personally if I was the complainant I would escalate this further as this has not met my expectation of a response (acknowledging that it may have met the complainants).

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I had an appointment booked through the gynaecology department, with a doctor who was not my usual one. The doctor was asking me questions that had previously been documented in the history, I felt it was obvious no one had taken a look at it but I thought that was ok. There were other people in the…

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https://www.careopinion.org.au/91189

I thought this was a very heartfelt response to this negative feedback. The nurse manager is sensitive to the nature of the feedback and apologised. I did however think her saying that the staff always endeavour to do their best, however due to time pressures, it was too generic as a reason why. I really liked that it was the manager herself responding to the feedback and made a very strong attempt to have the person or persons contact her via email or phone call to hear the experience further to create an appropriate plan forward.

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My adult child was recently admitted, via Ambulance, to Geraldton regional hospital after an attempted suicide, when the Ambulance arrive on site my child was unconscious and barely breathing. When admitted to Emergency the hospital staff, Nurses and Doctors we fantastic, bought them back to conscious and looked after them very well. The Attending Doctor and the ER nurses we were dealing with advised that my child would need mental help to get through this, we agreed. My child was admitted to the wards awaiting physical recovery and we thought they would get some help with their mental illness, but we were so wrong.

After the mental health team had assessed my child, they said my child was good to go home, we disagreed as did another staff member, who I believe put in an official complaint about the Reponses given by the mental health team. They agreed to assess my child again the next day and even though my child was threatening self-harm and harm to others, their diagnosis was it was just an emotional outburst and recommended that my child went to step up - step down, which would have been fine (maybe), apart from the fact that the trigger for the problem was working there. We requested that my child be put under psychiatric care in a hospital until they could be diagnosed and stabilized, we were advised to drive down to Perth and try and self-admit at emergency at another hospital, I felt it was a joke!

My adult child went to an appointment drug and alcohol and to GRH for a scheduled appointment with a doctor, the treating doctor recommended that they get assistance from mental health, a mental health team attended with the same result or lack thereof as the previous two encounters. Now my child is in remand for assault amongst other thing- the problem is that my child has just done what they said they would do that was either commit suicide and or assault their ex. All it seems we see on tv is if you have mental health issue then get help and here, we are trying to get help and I feel we are being ignored. If my child's mental health assessment were carried out correctly then I believe my child, their ex and both families would not be in the very bad situation they are in. In my opinion, there was a lack of medical help that my child should have received.

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My adult child was recently admitted, via Ambulance, to Geraldton regional hospital after an attempted suicide, when the Ambulance arrive on site my child was unconscious and barely breathing. When admitted to Emergency the hospital staff, Nurses and Doctors we fantastic, bought them back to conscious and looked after them very well.

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I believe this response is reasonable as it acknowledges the complainant's feelings of disappointment and frustration, and offers an open discussion at their convenience, providing contact details for further communication. While there is no explicit apology, it is possible that the chief executive of the hospital wants to investigate the matter thoroughly before commenting on specific issues. However, I feel that the response may come across as superficial and clerical. And also, the sentence 'The hospital would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you' could inadvertently give the complainant the impression that the hospital is reluctant to take action. Perhaps a more proactive and empathetic tone could be considered to address these concerns.

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I believe this response is reasonable as it acknowledges the complainant's feelings of disappointment and frustration, and offers an open discussion at their convenience, providing contact details for further communication. While there is no explicit apology, it is possible that the chief executive of the hospital wants to investigate the matter thoroughly before commenting on specific issues. However, I feel that the response may come across as superficial and clerical. And also, the sentence 'The hospital would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you' could inadvertently give the complainant the impression that the hospital is reluctant to take action. Perhaps a more proactive and empathetic tone could be considered to address these concerns.

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I took my tween child to the Emergency Department early one morning recently with right testicular pain. They are seen promptly by the triage nurse and taken straight through to the Paediatric area of the Emergency Department where a kind and caring nurse Cam looked after my son and the doctor I think his name was Nick examined him and explained that he thought my son had a testicular torsion and he would contact Urology to review him and organise an ultrasound. The service we received in the Emergency Department was excellent and the nurse and doctor made my son feel at ease and well looked after. The service was very efficient and we headed up to theatres just under 1 hour and 30 mins after arriving to the Emergency Department.

After my son's surgery, the Urology Doctor called me but the call went to my phone's voicemail. They left a message to tell me the procedure went well, no damage and that my son will be going to recovery and that I will probably be with him by the time I got the message, and that they will try to call again or catch up with us on the ward. Unfortunately, I never saw or spoke with anyone from the Urology team who looked after and operated on my son.

As I sat in the waiting room for parents whose children were having surgery, I saw other surgeons I believe, and anaesthetic teams come talk to the parents and I believe update them on their child, but no one came to see me and tell me exactly what they found when they went in to operate. I had to ask the nurse in recovery if my son did have a torsion in his right testis and they were the one who said yes from what they read on the operating report I believe. I'm disappointed that no one from the Urology team came to see me. Is that because my son was not a private patient using his private health insurance but was admitted as a public patient under Medicare? I hope that's not the reason. No one asked me if I wanted to use our private health insurance for the admission. I did step out of the Emergency Department briefly and I know you normally have to sign admission paperwork where the clerical staff ask if you want to use your private health insurance. I didn't even sign any admission paperwork except for the consent form. I know my son needed emergency surgery urgently so as to not damage his testis so I'm grateful that he was able to have the surgery so quickly and there was no delay getting him to theatres.

I know Doctors and surgeons are busy and may have other surgeries or emergencies to attend, but I believe not speaking with the parent directly after surgery but only a phone call is not good enough. The discharge instructions were provided in the Child and Adolescent Short Stay and it included follow up with the GP in 10-14 days for a wound review. I guess his surgery doesn't need to follow up with Urology even if it's Telehealth due to the pandemic but what if I had further questions later that I didn't think about at the time.

I want the staff in the Emergency Department who cared for my son to know they did a fantastic job and thank you.

I would like to thank the Urology team for looking after my son during his surgery and I would like them to improve on their communication with the parent of a child having surgery.

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Need better communication post-surgery for my child

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I took my tween child to the Emergency Department early one morning recently with right testicular pain. They are seen promptly by the triage nurse and taken straight through to the Paediatric area of the Emergency Department where a kind and caring nurse Cam looked after my son and the doctor I think his name was Nick examined him and explained that he thought my son had a testicular torsion and...

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Response online is very generic, does not seem sincere, and does not address the consumers primary concerns. The consumer is probably suffering from PTSD after her experience and more should be done to address her concerns. I would be worried that switch will not make her call a priority

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I laboured and gave birth to my second child at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch. I am placing this review on Care Opinion to communicate the aspects of my experience of which I feel disappointed and angry about, and have not been able to discuss with the hospital leadership after several months despite requests.

My child was born late 2022. One month later I discussed these issues with Patient Liaison representative in person, was listened to and a request put in to discuss further with a member of obstetrics management. I have received several missed calls with messages from nurses, but these have been from a private number with no return number. I have since followed up with patient liaison team twice 4 months later, with requests for an appt time again made. I would still like to discuss my experience with FSH.

My birth ideal was for a natural birth with as little intervention and monitoring and medication as possible and full mobility. I came to the hospital with a clear written birth plan and a partner and student midwife who were informed and supportive. I had to directly refuse antibiotics from the obstetrician multiple times as I had not completed the GBS test prior. They appeared condescending of my decision.

Initially the midwives were supportive of my birth plan and happy to coach me through. However, after only a few hours of active labour, when i felt that i was coping quite well, the midwife appeared to become concerned for me and asked if they could break my waters. It was not explained to me that once that was done they would then fix me to a bed on my back and prevent me from moving. It was not explained to me that they would then affix monitors to my child's head through my vagina. Following breaking of my waters I was not allowed to move at all and lost all urge to push.

Despite there being no alarms on the monitors, the midwife continued to tell me, seemingly with panic, that my baby was stressed and needed to come out straight away, stating meconium (very slight amount) in the waters and oxygen saturation reasons. In myself I did not feel stressed and asked repeatedly to get up (at least to all fours on the bed) as I felt no urge to push lying on my back. I was refused. I lost all sense of natural labour and had to push when told, with vaccuum being used and being given an episiotomy.

As I understand it, baby was not stressed upon birth, feeding immediately after being checked over. The obstet came over very fast, told me to push hard and yanked my placenta out whilst I used my hands to push my belly. I felt it come away from my insides. I don't understand what the rush was for this as I had asked specifically in my birth plan to have delayed cord cutting.

I was not allowed to get out of bed for a couple of hours after giving birth, being left with my legs up in the air, despite asking for this multiple times (feeling intuitively that i should get up). When i was checked by the midwife, I believe they got a shock at the amount of bleeding and set off the alarms. A lot of staff entered the room and the baby was given to my partner. The obstet communicated to me that i had a postpartum haemorrhage and in their words 'some people have a lazy uterus that doesn't want to shrink back down.'

I was told that due to the bleeding and potential clots i may need to go to theatre, but that I could not have my baby in there with me, so as the obstet knew i wanted to have my baby with me they could try a manual sweep of my uterus first to clear it out. I had to sign a consent that if they needed they could take me to theatre with the potential being they would 'remove my uterus if they had to.' I gave consent for the manual sweep as at the time the thought of leaving my baby and losing my uterus didn't feel like a choice. I was given gas only for this procedure, with the obstet performing the sweep. My recollection of this is extreme pain, worse than the labour, being held down and violated. I can clearly hear the senior midwife's voice in my memory saying "You're lucky its the obstet and not me doing it as id have my fingers scraping your spine." I still wake at night feeling violated and traumatised recalling this several months later.

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I laboured and gave birth to my second child at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch. I am placing this review on Care Opinion to communicate the aspects of my experience of which I feel disappointed and angry about, and have not been able to discuss with the hospital leadership after several months despite requests.

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I think this is a well written letter. It is apologetic, understanding but not patronising.
The letter reflected the consumers frustrating experience and gave an explanation of the healthcare challenge, but not excusing the felt disrespect and disservice.
I like that solutions were given to improve the service and acknowledge this blindspot to the organisations delivery of values. Additionally they have offered to help with the issue if it is still not resolved.

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I went in with my adult child to attend an out patient appointment with a visiting agency.

We needed a bit of help with accessing Medicare via Mygov , one of the questions to add Medicare is when was your last covid vaccination.

When I went to reception, first impressions wasn't very welcoming the orientation of reception means the staff have their backs to consumers and I could clearly see their screens including the video conference one was attending.

When I asked if they could help with the required information I felt I was treated like it was an imposition for them to help me , I explained we had an appointment and need one bit of information to confirm on my gov to complete the linking to Medicare . I asked if they could check on WEBPAS or AIR I was told there was no nursing staff available to assist, I asked if there was an immunisation clinic or anywhere else that could help . I was told to call Medicare- I had already been on hold over 45 min there. I was told that what I was asking for wasn't required to link Medicare and I reiterated that it was. One staff member seemed to look at me with absolute disgust and told me to try where the immunisation was given . I responded it was in prison so no my adult child can't try there.

One person asked to see my child's mobile unfortunately they had already gone into their appointment at that stage and I was getting frustrated by the attitude, so I said you know what don't worry about it I will call another health service and see if they can help us.

This is not the first time I feel we have been abruptly treated or spoken to like something that was stepped on.

And for me personally after a career spanning many years in health administration I was absolutely disappointed that this treatment of consumers is seemingly acceptable to any reception/ front of house staff .

I think you need to do better WACHS Pilbara. It's a small, remote community and as I understand it, people are aware of this ongoing behaviour. And I feel we deserve better

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I went in with my adult child to attend an out patient appointment with a visiting agency. We needed a bit of help with accessing Medicare via Mygov , one of the questions to add Medicare is when was your last covid vaccination.

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I think it is a good response because they thanked the person sharing the feedback and then apologised. The investigation done was outlined including that they communicated not just with the 2 clinicians involved but others that would possibly be in this position, reasons for the misinformation and what they are doing to try and prevent it from happening again. An invitation to discuss the issue further was also provided with appropriate contact details.

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Local clinician on call after hours refused to see my partner

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Below is the letter I wrote to the clinician and a copy was also sent to the Alpine Health Myrtleford CEO. I received an initial reply from the hospital but have not heard outcome post the hospital’s meeting with the clinician. Dear clinician, I wanted to clarify a concern I have regarding your refu…

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The care offered to the child could be improved in many aspects. The initial assessment conducted by the nurse should have been followed by a medical officer review. If then the situation was deemed as non-urgent, the patient should have been discharged on some form of pain medication until a dental review could happen. The situation could have been greatly improved if the nurse listened and empathised with the patient. This way the patient would have felt heard, would not be in pain and would feel knowledgable about the next steps required to address her dental pain.

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Wisdom tooth broken away on the weekend in the morning. Severe pain and couldn't get into public dentist. Advice given to present to Qe2 Jubilee ED department. Triaged and waited to see doctor.

Nurse reviewed my child & said it's only dental pain and that my child needed to see dentist. My child asked to see a doctor so they could get something for the pain. However the nurse said no they didn't need to see a doctor and gave them a list of dentists to call in the morning.

My child also wanted to ask how they go about getting into the public dentist as they have limited funds. I contacted the hospital and they said to represent to the ED department if they wanted however this is a huge cost after just returning home.

Since when has a nurse been able to refuse a patient to see a doctor, as I believe happened here. Is the nurse able to make a diagnosis without reviewing the area of concern?

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Wisdom tooth broken away on the weekend in the morning. Severe pain and couldn't get into public dentist. Advice given to present to Qe2 Jubilee ED department. Triaged and waited to see doctor. Nurse reviewed my child & said it's only dental pain and that my child needed to see dentist.

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The complaint that has rung true for me is a recent one. The pt. had been self treating for approx 5 days with paracetamol and ibuprofen. When this hasn't killed the pain, the pt. went to their local ED. AFter explaining it to a nurse in triage, where no details were taken the pt was told to take 2 panadol and go home. AFter going to their car and crying in frustration they went back in and approached the nursing staff again. This time begrudgingly details were taken. aThey were then told to sit around the corner as it was an incredibly long wait even tho no one else was there. After 4 hours the pt. gave up and went home without ever being seen by a doctor.
The response from the NUM was an apology and asking for the pt. to contact them. Personall I don't think this was the right type of response. The pt. had been in pain for days and was never seen by a doctor. I feel the NUM should of taken steps to find the pt's notes and see what was stated by the nurses and then as they had the pt's details at least call and try to work out a solution. Also the NUM should of spoken to the nursing staff involved before writing anything as it might have been a different scenario to what was described. People see things differently. It is up to the NUM to make a decision on who was closer to the truth and then deal with the situation

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The response acknowledged the experience felt by the complainant, apologised for the way they were treated and provided clarification. They acknowledged the complainaints emotions and frustrations and provided details on how they were going to improve admin staff training and development and implement org changes as a result of the issues raised in the complaint.

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I went in with my adult child to attend an out patient appointment with a visiting agency.

We needed a bit of help with accessing Medicare via Mygov , one of the questions to add Medicare is when was your last covid vaccination.

When I went to reception, first impressions wasn't very welcoming the orientation of reception means the staff have their backs to consumers and I could clearly see their screens including the video conference one was attending.

When I asked if they could help with the required information I felt I was treated like it was an imposition for them to help me , I explained we had an appointment and need one bit of information to confirm on my gov to complete the linking to Medicare . I asked if they could check on WEBPAS or AIR I was told there was no nursing staff available to assist, I asked if there was an immunisation clinic or anywhere else that could help . I was told to call Medicare- I had already been on hold over 45 min there. I was told that what I was asking for wasn't required to link Medicare and I reiterated that it was. One staff member seemed to look at me with absolute disgust and told me to try where the immunisation was given . I responded it was in prison so no my adult child can't try there.

One person asked to see my child's mobile unfortunately they had already gone into their appointment at that stage and I was getting frustrated by the attitude, so I said you know what don't worry about it I will call another health service and see if they can help us.

This is not the first time I feel we have been abruptly treated or spoken to like something that was stepped on.

And for me personally after a career spanning many years in health administration I was absolutely disappointed that this treatment of consumers is seemingly acceptable to any reception/ front of house staff .

I think you need to do better WACHS Pilbara. It's a small, remote community and as I understand it, people are aware of this ongoing behaviour. And I feel we deserve better

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I went in with my adult child to attend an out patient appointment with a visiting agency. We needed a bit of help with accessing Medicare via Mygov , one of the questions to add Medicare is when was your last covid vaccination.

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I found this to be a great example of a positive experience with a lovely reply. (As a side note- I noticed that quite a few of the negative stories I read, as yet have no response).

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My son climbed out of a trolley at the supermarket and fell on his head. As I believe any mother would be, I was upset shocked and concerned if he was ok. After speaking on the phone with my husband, we took him immediately to A&E for Children at Fiona Stanley.

Upon entering we were greeted by a very lovely lady at the waiting area who took our details, then a clinical nurse then took further details and comforted myself given our situation as I was upset. The nurse and administrator at the front were both so lovely and friendly and keeping myself calm and my son was entertained and happy to be his social self.

We were then taken through to the wards shortly afterwards. We were seen by a Dr Hannah who was also very lovely, explaining the circumstances and running through the protocol to ensure our son was ok. We also were helped by the registered nurses and clinical nurses who were all so helpful and friendly. The tea lady was also lovely.

I'm not a fan of hospitals at all, but everyone we saw there played their part in ensuring we were all taken care of in every aspect and I just wanted to thank you all. From a first time Mums point of view and panic, I felt at ease in your care. Thanks for ensuring my son was ok too. Thank you to every single person who cared for us, helped us, bought us food, made us tea and just all in all made our experience a positive one. We really appreciate it! I think you are all wonderful :)

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Staff making our experience a positive one

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My son climbed out of a trolley at the supermarket and fell on his head. As I believe any mother would be, I was upset shocked and concerned if he was ok. After speaking on the phone with my husband, we took him immediately to A&E for Children at Fiona Stanley.

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My toddler's rash | Care Opinion
I felt this response addressed all of the mother's concerns and was very diplomatic. They acknowledged their errors and were open to discussing the issues further. They also emphasised this was a learning opportunity for staff and stated they would be taking action on this. However, they could touch more on the importance of safety netting and the lack of safety netting the mother/child received.

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I took my toddler into sale emergency room with a fast growing, spreading rash on their back that was ripping their skin apart and blistering. I was triaged and told it would be a long wait but to come up if anything changes. It was a couple hours and I looked at my child's back and compared it to the photos I had been taking of it to show and keep an eye on the spread and it was worse. I went up and showed the triage nurse the difference between the photo just before coming in and their back now. A doctor was called and my child was looked at for approximately 2 minutes in the triage room told that it is nothing serious it's viral and to go home there was nothing they could do. I asked if they were sure and I was assured my child was fine.

The next day we realised it was still growing rapidly and had pus dripping and oozing out of my child's wounds that had now spread down their arm. I told my partner they needed a doctor but I did not trust Sale and refused to take them back so we rushed my child to a different hospital's emergency room. Where my child was treated as a massive priority by the receptionist, triage, doctor and a paediatrician. My child was swabbed instantly, cleaned, bandaged and given antibiotics immediately. We were told results will go to our GP and if it worsens at all bring them back. We got our results from the GP and my toddler has confirmed golden staph. Now I'm sure you are well aware of how badly this could have been if we stuck with 'this is viral nothing can be done' I am appalled at this. So many families go through what we went through and may not take their children to get a second opinion and could lead to worse things. My child was not given the decency of a swab or even a proper examination. I feel you are so quick to throw patients who you believe are an inconvenience out the door. In my opinion, you have a duty of care for all your patients and it seemed my child did not have that in the slightest. I really hope you take notes from how bad this could have been if the other hospital wasn't there to help us.

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I took my toddler into sale emergency room with a fast growing, spreading rash on their back that was ripping their skin apart and blistering. I was triaged and told it would be a long wait but to come up if anything changes.

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It is a good response as it was short and to the point, the hospital acknowledged the reason for the complain, did not come up with excuses or justification n as to why that happened, and gave strategies to take it further if the family wanted to. This shows that the organisation is willing to spend the time to listen and investigate. The only thing is that they did not apologise in the response, it thanked the parent for their time. Shirley

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I took my tween child to the Emergency Department early one morning recently with right testicular pain. They are seen promptly by the triage nurse and taken straight through to the Paediatric area of the Emergency Department where a kind and caring nurse Cam looked after my son and the doctor I think his name was Nick examined him and explained that he thought my son had a testicular torsion and he would contact Urology to review him and organise an ultrasound. The service we received in the Emergency Department was excellent and the nurse and doctor made my son feel at ease and well looked after. The service was very efficient and we headed up to theatres just under 1 hour and 30 mins after arriving to the Emergency Department.

After my son's surgery, the Urology Doctor called me but the call went to my phone's voicemail. They left a message to tell me the procedure went well, no damage and that my son will be going to recovery and that I will probably be with him by the time I got the message, and that they will try to call again or catch up with us on the ward. Unfortunately, I never saw or spoke with anyone from the Urology team who looked after and operated on my son.

As I sat in the waiting room for parents whose children were having surgery, I saw other surgeons I believe, and anaesthetic teams come talk to the parents and I believe update them on their child, but no one came to see me and tell me exactly what they found when they went in to operate. I had to ask the nurse in recovery if my son did have a torsion in his right testis and they were the one who said yes from what they read on the operating report I believe. I'm disappointed that no one from the Urology team came to see me. Is that because my son was not a private patient using his private health insurance but was admitted as a public patient under Medicare? I hope that's not the reason. No one asked me if I wanted to use our private health insurance for the admission. I did step out of the Emergency Department briefly and I know you normally have to sign admission paperwork where the clerical staff ask if you want to use your private health insurance. I didn't even sign any admission paperwork except for the consent form. I know my son needed emergency surgery urgently so as to not damage his testis so I'm grateful that he was able to have the surgery so quickly and there was no delay getting him to theatres.

I know Doctors and surgeons are busy and may have other surgeries or emergencies to attend, but I believe not speaking with the parent directly after surgery but only a phone call is not good enough. The discharge instructions were provided in the Child and Adolescent Short Stay and it included follow up with the GP in 10-14 days for a wound review. I guess his surgery doesn't need to follow up with Urology even if it's Telehealth due to the pandemic but what if I had further questions later that I didn't think about at the time.

I want the staff in the Emergency Department who cared for my son to know they did a fantastic job and thank you.

I would like to thank the Urology team for looking after my son during his surgery and I would like them to improve on their communication with the parent of a child having surgery.

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Need better communication post-surgery for my child

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I took my tween child to the Emergency Department early one morning recently with right testicular pain. They are seen promptly by the triage nurse and taken straight through to the Paediatric area of the Emergency Department where a kind and caring nurse Cam looked after my son and the doctor I think his name was Nick examined him and explained that he thought my son had a testicular torsion and...

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I think this response shows some sympathy and a willingness to listen to what had happened and plan to further investigate. I think the response should have included an apology.

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Lack of care following my parent’s discharge

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My parent was admitted to Busselton Health Campus following a fall. They were extremely ill on admission and not expected to survive the night. After 2 and half weeks in hospital my parent was well enough to be discharged to their home with support services help. I asked to see a doctor when my pare…

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Partner's breast care journey | Care Opinion
I felt that this response was compassionate, and respectfully requested that the author contact the hospital so that the care could be investigated in more depth, with a view to utilising the experience to learn and improve from.
I do have more background detail regarding this post. I know that the author did contact PFLS, and was immediately put in touch with the Director of Nursing for Womens and Newborns Service. He had wanted to share his story as his wife was a paediatric nurse who had known all along that something was not right, but had faith in her nursing and medical colleagues. It's a tragic story, but via the Care Opinion platform the author was able to have a long and chat with a compassionate Director, felt he had been heard, and was reassured in the care provided to his wife. Learnings were also shared with all Lactation Consultants. And for staff - it was reassuring to find out he is very well supported in the community with a close family and positive social supports.
(Marisa Skrzypek)

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Hi, my partner (with two young children) passed away recently from metastatic breast cancer. She was diagnosed around 11 months before, so unfortunately her breast cancer was very aggressive. Timeline: * Gave birth to our second child * When breastfeeding, she started to have pain 2 months later and…

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This reply had everything, acknowledgment of issues, knowledge that the complaint had been received elsewhere. A plan on how the complaint will be handled and by who. An acknowledgement of the standards expected and how this may help improve them. There was also an apology. acknowledgement of the helpful staff member and their kind words to him. very professionally written and easy to read and understand.

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We attended RPH Outpatients as a new patient referred from a private hospital recently. We were to attend Trauma clinic in the morning. There was no one on the front desk when we arrived and orderly suggested Orthopaedic clinic.

I went to the reception desk and produced my referral letter. The clerk behind the desk took one look. Told me we didn't have an appt, I recall, "we don't take walk ins here" despite my having a letter stating date and time etc. I felt they were extremely rude and dismissive and virtually walked away leaving us standing there.

I returned to front desk and same orderly suggested Plastic Clinic. He said I'm going that way and showed us the way, I felt they were extremely helpful. On arrival at Plastic clinic we were welcomed in what I felt was a very pleasant manner. We were informed there was a 2-3hr wait. We had regular updates for the delay. I believe short of Drs and nursing staff apparently removed for other areas in the hospital ! This area is extremely busy with nurses attending to a lot of patients needing dressings only. When I asked if my partner could lie down as they were not feeling well the clerical staff quickly found a nurse and my partner was shown to a bed and attended to.

Despite the time that people seemingly had to wait I recall there were no complaints we were advised to get refreshments attend parking meters etc.

The difference in the attitude of the clerical staff at the Plastic clinic compared to the staff I saw at Orthopaedic was totally different in my opinion.

I understand they are busy but I feel there's no need for rudeness. There was no on else waiting at the time.

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We attended RPH Outpatients as a new patient referred from a private hospital recently. We were to attend Trauma clinic in the morning. There was no one on the front desk when we arrived and orderly suggested Orthopaedic clinic. I went to the reception desk and produced my referral letter.