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"My Neck"

About: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

(as the patient),

In 2004 a chiropractor told me my neck was stuffed. Since then I have seen several physiotherapists and radiologists. The diagnosis I have received is a congenital fusion of C4/C5 vertebrae. This fusion is degenerative which means its not going to get better. Since 2013 I have been seeing the pain management team at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital. They put me on some pain medication and for a while it helped a bit. At this time I had also injured my back, so they were seeing me for two pain problems. In 2016 after a couple of visits to the pain management clinic they decided to put a referral through to the neurosurgery department to get an opinion on what they could do, and then began my wait. After a year of waiting for the neurosurgeon I decided to see one privately. After paying $300 to see him the neurosurgeon told me that there was nothing surgical he could do to fix my problems, but I should keep my appointment at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital for a second opinion. The problem is the Neurosurgeon I was to see at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital was the same one I had seen privately. I was able to see the triage nurse for an appointment and she said that they would be in touch soon. About a month later I received a letter from the triage nurse saying the doctor doesn't need to see me because he had already seen me privately and nothing had changed. 

At the moment I am looking for a letter for Centerlink for the Disability Support Pension and I'm getting serious red tape. All I want is for my neurosurgeon to give me the appointment he promised and a letter from him to say there is nothing he can do, how hard is that?

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Francis, A/Director Safety, Quality & Performance, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Service 5 years ago
Jennifer Francis
A/Director Safety, Quality & Performance, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital,
North Metropolitan Health Service
Submitted on 29/08/2018 at 12:50 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:51 PM


Dear pain in the neck,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. I am very sorry to hear of your ill health and the impact that it is having on you. I can only imagine how difficult it must be living with this type of pain every day.

I was very disappointed to read about the issues regarding your outpatient appointment and encourage you to contact our Patient Liaison Service on (08) 6457 2867 so that we are able to obtain further details and investigate the concerns you have raised more fully.

Once again, I wish to express my sincere apologies and hope that you will be happy to contact us.

Kind regards,

Geraldine Carlton

A/Executive Director

Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group

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