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Miscarriage treatment

Posted By no support

"Miscarriage treatment"

About: Dongara Eneabba Mingenew Health Service Geraldton Hospital

(as the patient),

It was a Sunday afternoon last year, and I was pregnant in my first trimester.

I noticed a little bit of bleeding and to stay on the safe side called the Dongara Hospital who recommended I come in. At this stage I was relaxed but did want to check about the possibility of a miscarriage - and the nurse asked me to take a pregnancy test and five minutes later said, yes, your suspicions were right, you've miscarried. Understandably I burst into tears, I had never been pregnant before and to be told so bluntly was jarring. No one else was there, and eventually when I wouldn't stop crying they offered me tea but their lack of empathy was so apparent I just wanted out of there. I got myself together and asked if there was anything I needed to do and they said maybe take a Panadol and that I'd be right.

So you can guess where this is going - that night I didn't get a second of sleep, and it was one of the most painful and traumatic experiences of my life. The amount of blood was just beyond what I thought possible and the cramps were excruciating. This is where I have to take responsibility - I couldn't drive, and was living alone at that time... but I should have just called the ambulance or a friend and gone straight to Geraldton ED. I stupidly 'toughed' it out and will forever feel embarrassed about that. However the fact remains that the advice I received from Dongara Hospital was to take a Panadol and that I'd be right.

Thankfully the next morning when it was a more civilised hour I called family who told me to go straight to Geraldton where I should have gone the day before. They were wonderful and did all the checks necessary, gave me pain relief and wrote me a certificate to take a few days off work to recover.

I am still teary about this experience and will forever have trust issues with small-town hospitals. Thank you for listening - all I ask is that if this happens again, check that the patient has local support and then tell them to go straight to ED.

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Responses

Response from Michele Young, REOC Lead, Executive Services, WACHS-Midwest 6 years ago
Michele Young
REOC Lead, Executive Services,
WACHS-Midwest

Submitted on 28/06/2017 at 4:05 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 4:08 PM

picture of Michele Young

Dear no support

Thank you for sharing your experience on Patient Opinion, I was deeply saddened to read your story. I am very sorry that you have experienced our service in this way and for the aspects of our care that have added to your distress during an already emotional time. Your experience does not meet our commitment to providing high quality care and the concerns you have outlined are not reflective of our values, particularly that of compassion and the service standards that we strive for.

I have discussed your experience with Leanne Sice, A/Regional Director of Nursing & Midwifery and Jode Coxon, A/Midwest Operations Manager and they were equally concerned and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your experience in greater detail. We would like to follow this up directly with the staff involved in your care so that we can understand what occurred and importantly, ensure that we prevent a recurrence. We would be grateful if you could contact us directly to discuss the issues you have raised. Leanne can be contacted on 9956 2211 and Jode on 9956 2268 or you can contact myself on 9956 8695. We will of course respect your decision should you choose not to make contact and if this is the case we will have general discussions with staff about your experience.

I was pleased to read about the care you received at Geraldton Hospital and I will ensure the team receive your compliment as I know they will really appreciate it.

I hope to hear from you soon and thank you again for sharing your story so that we may continually improve the care and service we provide.

Kind regards

Michele

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Response from Michele Young, REOC Lead, Executive Services, WACHS-Midwest 6 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Michele Young
REOC Lead, Executive Services,
WACHS-Midwest

Submitted on 11/07/2017 at 12:04 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:15 PM

picture of Michele Young

Dear no support,

Thank you for your call last week, it was lovely to speak to you. I appreciate you taking the time to discuss your concerns with me in more detail. I passed your details on to Leanne the A/Regional Director of Nursing and Midwifery who has advised that she has spoken to you and explained that an investigation will be undertaken through the Clinical Incident Management process with a view that:

- it would remain confidential; we will look at how we could improve our care; we will look at how we could improve communication; the nurse involved will receive feedback from that investigation as part of the nursing group to maintain the confidentiality you requested.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience on Patient Opinion, again I am sorry that you have experienced our service in this way. Your feedback will allow us the opportunity to see how we can do things better and to ensure that the experience you described does not happen again.

I wish you and your family all the best for the future.

Kind regards

Michele

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