"Cardiothoracic wait times, cancelled procedure"

Since being admitted to Fiona Stanley Hospital last March (2024) and staying for 1 week, my spouse was told that on discharge, they would not be forgotten. Finally in October, my spouse saw one of the vascular team,  who said they knew what needed to be done to treat their issue (chronic clotting in both Jugular veins and vena cave), they now were waiting on a reply from cardiology.  Four appointments with vascular later (who were always surprised my spouse hadn't seen cardio yet), I  finally went into the cardiology outpatients rooms and was able to get them on the list to see a doctor in February. When we arrived for the appointment, the doctor was absent that day, but we saw a registrar who told us their surgery was quite urgent and my spouse had been waiting a long time for it.

In April, my spouse had a meeting with the specialist surgeon who was going to remove the pacemaker lead causing all the clotting.  They told my spouse their surgery would happen in 6 weeks time, but probably sooner.

At the beginning of May, my spouse received notification that they had an appointment for their pre admission check up.  There they told my spouse they would probably have the surgery at the end of May.  That date came and went with no further correspondence, so we rang the wait list number and were told my spouse shouldn't have been given that date, and there was no surgery scheduled yet. About mid-June, my spouse got a call saying their surgery was booked in for around a week later, so get my spouse's blood test done, and start the injections to replace the blood thinners they were taking. 

A few days before the scheduled surgery, we got a call confirming the surgery.  Two hours after that, we got a call telling my spouse their surgery was cancelled because of an emergency.  We, of course thought it would only be a weeks delay, as they'd obviously finally made it to the top of the "scheduled" list.  When no call came by the end of that week (we'd been told they put together their surgery list on Thursdays), I went in to the hospital and asked what was going on, and I was told my spouse would have their new date within a week. 

Another week went by and my spouse rang cardio thoracic and was told they were pencilled in for the end of July!!  Our child and I thought this was just not good enough - my spouse was at the top of the list 2 days previously!!! So we went back to FSH cardiothoracic and was told, definitely nothing until the end of July.  They didn't know why. 

I got very upset at this, so they recommended going to speak to someone at Patient Liaison so they could escalate our case and find out some information for us.  The lady there was very lovely and sympathetic and said she would try to chase up some information, but couldn't promise any change to the time line.  She said  someone would ring me back that day.  No-one did.  Even if they can't help with a new surgery date, I really want to know how you can be at the top of the list about to have the surgery you've been waiting for for over a year now, and then just disappear into a black hole with no answers and no new date. 

My spouse has absolutely no quality of life and the surgery could really help with that.  My spouse has to sleep sitting up,  as the blockages impact their breathing.  The medication makes them dizzy and as they also have a neurological issue that affects their balance, they are constantly in danger of falling, even when using a walker.  I feel this treatment from the hospital is not only unacceptable, but also unbelievably cruel.  We are just left in limbo once again after being so excited that my spouse might actually get some relief from this terrible affliction.