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Unknown diagnosis/ too many fingers in the pie

Posted By Frustrated wife

"Unknown diagnosis/ too many fingers in the pie"

About: Fiona Stanley Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

Husband went into emergency recently. (Gallstones) he was waiting for 5 days for surgery, each passing day he would be fasted only to be told by 6 pm that surgery was cancelled. 😠 

Finally had surgery on the 5th day which had complications, which was meant to be 5 hours that turned into 8 hours. 😱

First night after surgery husband had a rough night due to handover nurse not giving him pain relief/medication on time - missed by 3 hours. 😠 

He was been moved to another ward where he was on a strict diet. He requested for the staff to help set up his info., so he can have a selection of choosing his own low fat diet meals as he’d had dry chicken for lunch and dinner (same meal) for 3 days. No help given. Was moved to another ward at 8.40 pm when I felt this could have been done during the day, as he was settling in for the night. Each day a new doctor came in to see him and we were told all sorts of what we felt was BS and still no answers as to why he wasn't being discharged. It’s almost like they came in without reading notes. I understand it is impossible to read through all patients notes but a little quick read over wouldn’t hurt. Husband there for 11 days. In our opinion, no help, no answers 

Angry Wife 😡 

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Responses

Response from Janet Zagari, Executive Director Transformation, South Metropolitan Health Service, South Metropolitan Health Service 5 years ago
Janet Zagari
Executive Director Transformation, South Metropolitan Health Service,
South Metropolitan Health Service

Submitted on 25/10/2018 at 6:58 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 26/10/2018 at 10:30 AM

picture of Janet Zagari

Dear Frustrated wife,

Thank you for sharing your story on Patient Opinion. I was disappointed to hear of your husband's experience, particularly regarding the poor communication you encountered and the repeated cancellation of your husband's surgery.

I understand you contacted our Patient and Family Liaison Service and I encourage your husband to provide his details as requested so we can fully investigate the issues raised.

In the meantime, I can advise every attempt is made to proceed with surgery as planned, particularly when a patient's surgery has already been cancelled on another occasion. However, there are times when it becomes necessary to prioritise the most urgent and time critical cases. I understand that this is far from desirable and adds pressure to an already stressful situation for patients and their families.

I apologise that the decision to move your husband was made so late in the day. In most circumstances, patients are moved due to unexpected admissions from the Emergency Department. Decisions regarding who to move in such situations are taken seriously, with only the most clinically stable patients on the ward considered.

I was very disappointed to hear that your husband was not provided with adequate pain relief. This is an important part of clinical care and, should your husband feel comfortable in providing us with his details, we can investigate why this occurred. I was also concerned to hear that you felt the clinical staff had not fully informed themselves of your husband's case and about the poor communication. Please accept my apologies for this and be assured that your story has been fed back to the general surgery staff.

I can confirm that a Ward Housekeeper is available to assist patients with ordering food and apologise that your husband was not advised that such help was offered. Your feedback has been shared with the Ward Housekeeping staff so that they can improve the service we provide our patients.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you again for raising your concerns.

Kind regards

Janet Zagari

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