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"Day procedure for my sister"

About: Armadale Hospital

(as a relative),

My sister attended for a colonoscopy. The hospital was advised at 8am before she arrived that she had reacted to the prep Colonlytely and was very unwell - had been vomiting yellow bile and was very nauseous. My sister vomited in the car on the trip to the hospital. Procedure went ahead. Our elderly mother accompanied her, however when mum had to leave to park the car in a longer term spot she was not allowed to rejoin my sister. Both my mother and my sister were very distressed. Both asked staff if they could be together - staff denied this request. My sister especially was distressed - she was in pain, shaking uncontrollably and felt staff were not attending to her. She was told things would happen, pain relief would be offered, the procedure would be soon, but time dragged on and nothing occurred. She found it hard to talk and was upset that staff made her sign consent forms that she didn't understand and couldn't comprehend as she was so exhausted and shaking. She asked for her mother, but staff wouldn't let mum sit with her and comfort her. Mum was very upset in the waiting area and repeatedly asked staff if she could just sit with my sister. Staff denied this request and reassured mum that my sister was OK. This is obviously not true. My sister vomited again which apparently delayed the procedure which in turn increased the distress both my sister and my mum were experiencing. My sister hadn't drunk fluids since the night before, was vomiting since 6am, arrived at the hospital at 11am and although promised wasn't given a drip until after 1pm. My sister was waiting and in distress for 3. 5 hours. After the procedure her husband took her home without being given any information or instructions and advice on how to care for her. We saw her at home at 6pm and she was still distressed, nauseous and in pain. She was also fearful to drink. She also has no idea of her results. She overheard another patient being given his results, but when she asked she was told she'd get her biopsy results in two weeks and that was it. She'll never have a colonoscopy again.  

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Responses

Response from Diane Barr, Executive Director, Armadale Kalamunda Group 5 years ago
Diane Barr
Executive Director,
Armadale Kalamunda Group
Submitted on 28/08/2018 at 5:32 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 29/08/2018 at 9:55 AM


picture of Diane Barr

Dear marchff85,

I want to sincerely apologise for your sister’s experience at Armadale Hospital.

What you have described sounds extremely frightening and deeply concerns me. I understand coming into hospital alone can be daunting and from reading about your sister’s experience, I believe we could have cared for her better than we did.

I have shared your story with our Director of Nursing and Midwifery (DoNM) who will ensure your sister’s experience is used to review our current carer/visitor policies and procedures and more importantly how we educate and support our staff to provide compassionate care every day.

I am also concerned that it seems your sister may not have received her results following the biopsy.

Can I invite you to contact our Consumer Liaison Office on 9391 1153 or email AKG_ConsumerLiaison@health.wa.gov.au with your sister’s details when convenient? We can then ensure this important aspect of care is followed up.

Finally thank you for taking the time to share your family’s experience. Every day we reflect on how we can do things better and “stories” such as yours are essential in ensuring we get it right every time moving forward.

Yours sincerely

Di Barr

Executive Director

Armadale Kalamunda Group

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