"Amazing day surgery staff"

My 7 yr old child had a day surgery procedure today at Albany Health Campus.  We received excellent care and compassion from all the medical and nursing staff, from the admissions clerk, pre-op nurse, anesthetist, surgical team, anaesthetic nurse, post op nurses etc. All my questions were answered clearly and we received clear documentation with post op guidelines. I was very impressed with the service. 

Regarding the admission paperwork, I have some feedback on the readability and ease of completing. As a healthcare worker myself, I was worried I found the paperwork confusing as I am sure many others may also. When contacted to make the operation I was told my child did not require a pre-admission appointment, so when receiving the letter I read the comment 'if you require a pre-admission appointment it will be made for you via the waitlist clerk at the time of booking your procedure.' which confirmed my previous conversation. I almost didn't read on. But when I did, I then had to re-read multiple times the next line which reads 'please contact the above listed anaesthetist as soon as possible to determine whether a pre-anaesthetic appointment is required.'

I almost didn't do this step because in my head 'isnt the pre-admission and pre-anaesthetic the same thing'. I decided to call just to be safe, but was then unsure whether to call the hospital waitlist clerk back or The Surgery where the anaesthetist works as a GP. I figured as a public patient if he's working as an anesthetist for the hospital then the appointment would occur through the hospital. However I rang the GP clinic just to be sure. They were unaware of my child's booked surgery date (10days away) and unsure whether they needed an appointment, but then called me back to say my child did. I was relieved I made the call but concerned I almost didn't. 

I recommend separating the two lines in the letter of operation to make parents realise they are two separate steps. And to clearly say to book the pre-anaesthetic appointment you need to call the surgery directly and not the hospital. 

Then came the separate letter asking us to consider private health insurance to cover the cost of surgery. As a private health member, I am very happy to do this. However the letter advises it's my responsibility to make sure the procedure is covered prior to admission, but no paperwork I received listed the items numbers for the surgery. Lucky I was on holidays and had time to contact Rachael the revenue enhancement officer. She was lovely and able to search for the item numbers and compare this to my health cover. This step again required an extra phone call that I could've easily not bothered to make because the surgery would be free through the public system anyway and the perks of a free newspaper and private room were not appealing to my 7yr old. 

Overall- lovely staff, great hospital and service. However readability and ease of paperwork could be improved to support those with lower health literacy.