"Lost in the hospital web"

My wife was admitted to Joondalup Health Campus last week with suspected mastitis. The initial ED triage was excellent - the male nurse who we first saw was empathetic and alert to the possibility of sepsis. My wife was in significant distress and pain, and he responded quickly and we were seen within 15 minutes. We were admitted to an ED observation area (we had our 7 week old with us, who exclusively breastfeeds) and were immediately seen by a Dr who took bloods for a septic screen. She was also wonderful - listened to our concerns and made us feel valued whilst efficiently getting blood. We were quickly started on IV Antibiotics and explained a plan for treatment.

Unfortunately, from here on things were less than ideal. One of the nurses got visibly frustrated that my wife's cannula kept getting obstructed - even though she was trying to keep her arm straight, everytime she had to breastfeed she needed to bend her arm. At one point, the nurse looked at me and said, it wouldn't keep getting blocked if my would just keep her arm straight! My wife was also asked by this nurse if she had experienced mastitis previously - my wife said yes, once with each of our older children - when asked which side the mastitis was on, my wife couldn't remember. I recall the nurse replied: what, you can't remember? why not? - to which my wife replied that it was many years ago. We did have some lovely nurses - but there was also many interactions that didn't feel particularly empathetic and caring.

We ended up being in hospital for 48 hours, and in that time, my wife only received one hot meal - lunch on the day we were discharged. We arrived at 5pm and were given sandwiches that night, but the next day my wife wasn't given lunch or dinner. Lunch was forgotten completely but dinner we asked at least 4 different people if it had been ordered and tried to confirm if she would receive food - by 7pm, she still hadn't been given anything and we were told she hadn't been entered on the diet system correctly and the kitchen was now closed. She was offered sandwiches again.

Remarkably, my wife saw 5 different doctors (and never the same Dr twice) during her stay under the Gen Surg team. I know there is shifts and changes of personnel, but it was amazing that we never saw the same Dr more than once. One of them was particularly rude, constantly cutting my wife off mid-answer to her questions and clearly only listening very superficially. My wife even asked: "Do you want to let me finish my answer before you ask your next question?". It was disappointing to not feel listened to. The 3 doctors who saw us on the day of discharge were lovely - very attentive, explained things clearly and gave a structured plan.

Finally, it was remarkable to see how slow the hospital can feel, and how a bed in ED can be blocked for such a long time. Within 2 hours of our presentation to ED, we were started on Antibiotics and had a diagnosis and short-term plan. It still took more than 24 hours before we were moved out of ED and onto a ward; ED was understandably very busy, so the politics of different medical teams arguing over who was going to provide her care - Obs/Gyn didn't want us as our baby was now 7 weeks old, so we ended under Gen Surg (unusual, given surgery is not a usual treatment for mastitis). We were an outlier in ED so got seen by the medical team at 8am and then not again until 3pm; all that time when we blocked an ED bed when we could have been an outlier on a ward instead. 

The final thing - and I'm sorry if this seems like a long rant - is that the carparking system at Joondalup is flawed. I am more than happy to pay for parking (I understand the need) but given the numberplate-recognition system in place, it seems wrong that it is charged in the way it is. I had to leave the hospital a number of times - to get my wife food when her meals were forgotten, as well as pick up clothes/items for her and our newborn - and each time you leave and re-enter the carpark, a new 'stay' is started. Whilst there is a $15 per day cap for parking, each time I left and re-entered, this was reset. I ended up paying closer to $40 per day because of this. Surely it should be changed so that if I have paid the maximum for 24 hours, then it should allow me to come and go?