"Patient Care"

I felt disappointed . What I believed was a great hospital with compassion and caring is starting to deminish!

Where do I start!

As a NSW employee I’ve spent a lot of time defending our establishment. Overall I believe we all do a really good job sometimes under really hard circumstances and today I am here to raise a few issues I have encountered from the other side.

My parent who just turned 80 otherwise healthy and independent presented to ED with loss of use and stiffness in their hand with a diagnosis of a TIA.

A beautiful doctor Matt set the scene with the most exceptional bedside manner I have witnessed. He was diligent, professional and most of all he treated my parent like a person with feelings and concerns. He addressed and explained everything and every worry he had about their condition which I believe put my parent at ease leading them to trust the process and ultimately the diagnosis of their condition. Stage 3 bowel cancer!

My parent was seen by what felt like a thousand people prodding and poking, explaining and working out the best course of action. Exceptional care! A team of doctors worked together because as they investigated deeper it raised a few issues along the way with underlaying conditions. Once these issues were resolved the things I find so important started to flag.

I felt that we become numbers and not people. My parent endured lots of bed moves which meant they were no longer high risk and was moving along to a ward bed which we were excited for until my parent was moved at 11 pm from one ward to another. My parent called the next morning upset as they were now in a room with 3 people of the opposite gender! My parent's bowel movements were being monitored because of the frequency which made them embarrassed as they were sharing a bathroom with patients of the opposite gender.

This was upsetting our family but I also know that sometimes what is relayed to family members is not always the case. Instead of calling I came to the new ward around 10 am and my parent was visibly distressed. I asked my parent what was wrong and they said I just want to have a shower and freshen up! I said I’ll get you some towels, no problem. Its fine! To which my parent replied, I’m waiting for my toiletries to be bought over. Ok! No problem!

I went back to the old ward and removed my parent's toiletries from their old room, took their ROHO cushion to prevent a pressure injury, and cleared their drawers. So the urgency to move my parent at 11pm and me collecting their toiletries at 10 am for that room to not be stripped, cleaned or allocated to a more high risk person was seemingly unnecessary.

I asked the in charge if they would move my parent to a room with other patients of the same gender as the allocations were not appropriate in my opinion. After more bed moves and the planned discharge which I felt was an absolute mess with apparent poor communication, missing meds and no one seemed to not know what was going on we put it behind us as we were just happy to get my parent home with the plan for treatment and hopefully the time we have left with them would be pleasant.

We are now with the Nelune Cancer Centre and have an allocated nurse to help us navigate my parent's ongoing care who is exceptional. Unfortunately my parent's journey is not going to plan. They have low kidney function that posing problems and their blood counts are low so we have been coming in for transfusions.

We had a call late last week saying my parent's blood counts were low and they would need to come in for a transfusion. We were desperately hoping for a bed as the previous week we were in ED for 10+ hours for a transfusion. Our lovely cancer nurse secured a bed in CAU which we know are like gold. 11 am ish arrival. Everyone was lovely, made my parent a cup of tea. No lunch given which is fine I bought them something downstairs at 1pm. Bloods were ready to be given around 3pm, nurse surprised that my parent had no obs done or ID band on.

Still nurses were lovely and checking in. Dinner time no meal was given. my parent's weight has dropped to 40.2 kg so even though the hospital meals are not edible at least they could have a cup of tea and sandwich or dessert depending on menu. We are happy to bring my parent what they feels like. Temp spikes overnight, more bloods taken , morning comes around and no breakfast offered! My parent asked if there’s any breakfast coming and the nurse replies with Oh you should be going home this morning.

My parent leaves the hospital around around 11 am.

And while I appreciate the care and the extensive teamwork that I see each day that goes into keeping patients well and given the best outcomes it has also highlighted the basic care that should be given is, in my opinion, being neglected. If I see this, what is happening to the patients who don’t have loving family members who are caring for their loved ones. Is anyone really caring for them! I feel like we’ve become numbers and not people who need to be cared for!