"Emergency Department"

Dear Care of my partner,

I am sorry to hear your partner has been unwell and in pain. Hoping the medication we provided got you through the night, I trust that a community GP has been able to take up your partner’s care, as they are usually the best person to look after Low Back Pain. As Emergency Departments are not informed of or involved in primary care management plans, staff usually aim not to interfere with them by conducting additional tests or interventions. Our priority in caring for people in the Emergency Department is to assess and help them manage the acute situation.

I am sorry if the reason and plan for treatment were not made clear to you or your partner. While unable to comment on specific details about your partner’s care here, I can say that treatment for vomiting would be intended to result in a person regaining the ability to consume and retain liquids by mouth – the best way to recover from being dehydrated.

Whilst we aim to provide informative, supportive and appropriate care to our patients, I apologise where we failed you. I will let our ED staff know of your experience and reiterate the importance of always offering patients and carers the opportunity to ask questions.

Please do feel free to phone me on 0417 987 724, or Dr Andrew Humphrey, our A/Senior Medical Officer on 9194 2853 if you wish to discuss this further. If you or your partner want to discuss any specific detail of the actual presentation, it will need to be your partner who contacts us, to ensure we maintain appropriate confidentiality.

I hope this has helped, and do encourage you to phone if you have ongoing concerns or advice.

Regards,

Margi Faulkner