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Emergency care

Posted By annoyed 12

"Emergency care"

About: Swan Hill District Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

On a recent weekend morning, I took my teenager to Swan Hill ED with a suspected broken ankle due to a fall. Upon arrival, we were informed that if they needed scans, they would not be available until 11:15 am, which was approximately 45 minutes away. The nurse examined my teenager's foot, triaged them, and sent them back to the waiting room. No pain medication was offered despite their significant pain and swelling.

After sitting in the ED for about two hours, I requested pain medication for my teenager. It took around 20 minutes before they received some. After a total of 4.5 hours in the ED without an X-ray or seeing a doctor, a doctor briefly examined the foot and said my teenager would need an X-ray. Feeling sick and lightheaded after the X-ray, they asked to lie down but was told by the nurse that there were no available beds, and my teenager had to return to the waiting room.

We waited another 2 hours before the doctor informed us, in the middle of the ED waiting room, that no one was available to read the X-ray, but it appeared to be okay. A medical certificate for school was issued upon request. The doctor mentioned a possible slight fracture and advised rest, Panadol, and to await contact from the hospital physio, which has not happened even after a few weeks.

We have since obtained further scans in Melbourne due to local GP unavailability, revealing a slight fracture in the ankle and a completely torn medial collateral ligament.

Although I know there are more serious conditions than a broken ankle, in my opinion, this is not the first time such a mistake has occurred at Swan Hill ED.

Next time, I plan to bypass Swan Hill and go to a different hospital for professional service and assistance.

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Responses

Response from Kath Curran, ED NUM, Emergency Department, Swan Hill District Health 4 weeks ago
Kath Curran
ED NUM, Emergency Department,
Swan Hill District Health

Submitted on 11/04/2025 at 4:06 PM
Published on Care Opinion Australia on 14/04/2025 at 8:57 AM

picture of Kath Curran

Dear annoyed 12,

Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback about your experience in our ED. We are very sorry our communication was unclear and how this has led you to choose medical attention elsewhere.

We acknowledge wait times and staffing availability is limited in Swan Hill - including after-hours Radiology and axillary services. With only one Radiographer on shift over the weekend including responding to call outs at night, delays in imaging are often due to the implementation of fatigue management procedures.

Wait times for patients in the Emergency Department can vary significantly from moment-to-moment depending upon demand. Some days it is not obvious from the waiting room that ED staff are caring for multiple critically unwell patients. Here in Australia, we use the Australasian Triage Scale which determines the order in which patients receive care in response to their specific condition. This does lead to lower acuity patients sometimes having extended wait times - for which we do empathize but cannot avoid. We are planning to introduce a 'barometer' into the ED waiting room that will give patients and support people some insight into the approximate wait time and possible delays. This will assist with communication deficits when the triage and administration staff are also extremely busy.

There is a wonderful MRI appeal happening in our community at the moment that will provide our locality access to advanced imaging that would have assisted in identifying your teenager's ligamentous injury. This will be a welcome addition to aid diagnosis and treatment at home for many patients in the future.

Again, thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on your experience at Swan Hill District Health. We sincerely hope your teenager is feeling better.

Kind regards

Kath

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by annoyed 12 (a parent/guardian)

While I understand that the ED was extremely busy that day and there was other patients that would have needed immediate care. My complaint was about the lack of communication and the fact that my teenager's results were given to them in the waiting room in front of everybody else where is the patient confidentiality in that? The fact that the physio has still not called and we are now a few weeks later and I have seek private physio because otherwise we would be way behind on this healing process. I feel for the staff at Swan Hill and the pressure that they’re under and the lack of services that are provided.. it may be amazing to have a new flush ED department, but this does not benefit Swan Hill at all if, in my opinion, you can’t staff it and have your doctors provide a professional service.

And I did go behind the ED doors to go through to x-ray and while some of the beds were occupied during this time, the majority of the staff I saw seemed to be standing around desk talking and laughing to me. I believe that’s not extremely busy..

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