My child was admitted to the Geraldton Paediatric Ward. We were admitted to a four bed bay with no real privacy (the curtains didn't even adequately reach around our bedspace). My young child and I had to tolerate listening to a swearing teenager in the next bay, who was only separated from us by a curtain. Another young child across from us and his mother also had to listen to the same.
As a parent, I had to try to sleep in an armchair next to my child's bed. After a few hours of this I was sore all over and most certainly not able to sleep. I felt for another mother sharing the room with us, who had been in the hospital longer than us, and suffered from a bad back. She went to lie in the only empty bed in the room, but was told by nursing staff that she was not allowed to do that, even though she explained she was in pain.
Worst of all we all had to share a bathroom. The one bathroom, which contained the toilet and shower/bath all in one room - meaning you couldn't use the toilet if someone else was showering, and vice versa - was shared between five bedspaces! This meant that potentially five families were sharing the one toilet and shower. I wondered how this design and setup could possibly meet infection control standards. What if someone has gastro?
In my opinion, the bathroom itself was set up like a store room. It was full of linen skips (I counted at least three), which I had to move out of the way to get to the bath. My poor child only stayed in the bath for a couple of seconds, as the water was too cold (even with no cold water turned on, the hot water was only lukewarm). And the water pressure in the hand sink was insufficient to adequately wash our hands - just a trickle. Again - how is this meeting infection control standards?
Whilst we were incredibly grateful to the wonderful nurses and doctors who provided our care, I felt really sad that the children of the midwest region have, in my opinion, such a woeful facility. It seems children were all but forgotten about when the Geraldton Regional Hospital was built.
"Hospital children's ward"
About: Geraldton Hospital Geraldton Hospital Geraldton 6530
Posted by Gerofamily (as ),
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