"My daughter's hospital experience after continually displacing her shoulder"

My 12 year old daughter dislocated her shoulder late last year . She was taken to Noarlunga Hospital where it was discovered her shoulder continually slips in and out. A referral was made to Flinders orthaepedics for physio and treatment. A week later the shoulder dislocated again at school (while at her desk) and she was readmitted to hospital with no resolution. After six weeks going round in circles at Flinders between physio, X-rays and MRIs she was referred to Women's and Children's as it was determined she would need surgery to fix her shoulder.

Throughout this entire time (3 months by then) I consistently requested she be referred to a private specialist as it was not a matter I wanted to drag out in the public system. I think it is simply not fair for a 12 year old to be unable to use their arm effectively for even the simplest of tasks. The advice I received though, was that the best paediatric surgeons were attached to the WCH. We attended the WCH as referred - more than four months after the initial injury. On attending the clinic we were advised that apparantly Flinders made an appointment with the wrong clinic and she was referred to another orthaepedic clinic at WCH. Staff at the time contacted the other clinic and I was assured we would have a consultation at that time. On attending the clinic - where there was only one other patient in the waiting room- we were refused a consultation. I asked when the consultation would be and the staff member refused to give me a time frame. The assessment by the staff member - who in to my knowledge had not consulted with my daughter, nor seen her file, was that she was a non-urgent case and no commitment could be made for her treatment.

The current status is I have no appointments for the treatment of my 12 year old daughter with any public health professionals in Adelaide, I have no treatment plan and as a result I have a child who is, in my opinion, unable to effectively participate in her life for an indefinite period. Additionally,I believe the longer this is left, the greater the nerve and muscle damage - therefore the more extensive the treatment will be required. This results in a greater impost on the public health system.