"Heart Attack Care: the good and the not so good"

I (60 year old) recently suffered a heart attack in Toowoomba (QLD). The acute care and treatment I received from my local GP, the Toowoomba Hospital, Queensland Ambulance and the PA Hospital in Brisbane was excellent and I am most grateful for the quality of the health care I received (I was stabilised in Toowoomba on a Monday, transferred to the PA on the Tuesday for an angiogram, fitted with one stent on Wednesday and back home for recuperation on Thursday).

However there we're a couple of 'patient journey' issues with my experience.

First, I was not told by the Toowoomba Hospital team that the transfer to Brisbane was one-way only and I had to make my own arrangements to get home on Thursday. Fortunately I had family in Brisbane who could help, but I thought it was poor to not know until I was on my way to Brisbane in the ambulance!

Second, I had a three hour wait after discharge from the PA on Thursday morning while the hospital doctors and pharmacy sorted out my meds.. And I wasn't alone. Three of us were waiting in a public waiting room at the hospital for our meds!

While I do not believe these are clinically critical issues, and at no time did I think my health care was compromised, I feel that an otherwise positive patient experience was soured a little by poor communication and coordination of service delivery.