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"The care my parent received as an inpatient at Box Hill Hospital."

About: Box Hill Hospital

(as a relative),

My parent was brought to emergency via ambulance as they had an accident at home. Having end stage terminal cancer their treatment options were limited. The doctors rang us and told us to make our way to the hospital as they had 24 hours max left. We travelled from interstate and were by their bedside soon after.

This bedside was STILL IN EMERGENCY! ! My parent was receiving Palliative Care in the craziest, loudest, busiest department of the hospital.

After 22 hours my parent was finally moved.

The PCA who transported my parent was shouting to a mate across the corridor about the footy on the weekend paying next to no attention to the patient he was moving. Roughly moving the bed into and out of the lift. Talking loudly the whole way.

Now the good part of the story. My sincere thanks go to the nurses on 4. 1 who cared for my parent in what were to be their last 12 hours. The care and compassion these ladies had for my parent, my family and I was FANTASTIC.

My parent was allowed the respect and dignity to pass peacefully.

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Responses

Response from Alan Lilly, Chief Executive, Eastern Health 9 years ago
Alan Lilly
Chief Executive,
Eastern Health
Submitted on 28/08/2015 at 10:08 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 10:09 AM


picture of Alan Lilly

Dear Grieving daughter

Thank you for sharing your story on Patient Opinion. Can I start by saying that my heart sank when I read your feedback and I really do understand that what you experienced in the Emergency Department would have left you feeling disappointed with our response at yours and your parent’s time of need. I am truly sorry for that and feel equally disappointed. I am unsure as to when exactly this occurred and if you can provide me with a time frame or any further details, I will make sure that we undertake a more thorough review to see what we can learn from your experience and more importantly, to avoid a recurrence in the future. You can feel free to contact me directly on alan.lilly@easternhealth.org.au I will respect your decision but in any event, you can be reassured of my personal commitment to learn from your story. I was also very sorry to read your observation of the PCA transporting your parent to the ward and I will discuss this with staff in the Emergency Department and our Support Services team. This is unacceptable at any time, let alone in the specific situation you have described.

On a more positive note, thank you for your feedback with regard to your experience in Ward 4.1 and the care of your parent at that time. Working in healthcare, we do understand the need to maintain dignity and respect for our patients and more than ever in their final moments. I will also pass your feedback on to our staff and to their managers too.

Once again, thank you for sharing your story with us and if you would like me to follow this up further Grieving daughter, please do write to me and I will be sure to follow this up.

Kind regards, Alan Lilly

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Response from Alan Lilly, Chief Executive, Eastern Health 9 years ago
Alan Lilly
Chief Executive,
Eastern Health
Submitted on 15/09/2015 at 6:44 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 16/09/2015 at 12:49 PM


picture of Alan Lilly

Dear grieving daughter

By way of a quick update and to finalise this posting, I am writing to let you know that the issue of the behaviour of the PCAs has been followed-up with them individually whilst confirming our expectations of staff at the same time.

As promised also in our email conversation, I have also passed on your feedback to the staff members concerned who were grateful to receive our acknowledgement too.

Thanks again for sharing your story grieving daughter - I am just so sorry that we didn't get things right first time but we have indeed learned from your experience.

Thank you and kind regards, Alan Lilly

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