"Emergency Department"

Unfortunately over the years we have had to attend the ED on numerous occasion and have never had cause to complain up until now.

Anyone who knows me and knows of my mum knows it takes a lot for her to admit that she is ill and when she admits to it she is bloody unwell.

This was how she was recently - severe headache, lower back pain and pain in legs that Panadeine Fort had not touched. Anyway after a quick stop at the doctors we got sent onto Sale Hospital. The nurses are wonderful as usual, some came to greet Mum by name even though they were not looking after her this time.

After a couple off hours they were still struggling to get a line in so they decided to get someone down from x-ray.  The room was getting a bit crowded so I decided to go and get something to eat.

I came back and found Mum quite upset and basically wanting to go home. This doctor had come in and basically told her she had no business being there, she was only dehydrated. Mum told him that her doctor sent her in and he basically said that she should have only been sent in if she was throwing up, she should drink more at home or it should be dealt with by her GP. He did not look at her other medical issues, did not investigate her back pain or leg pain and did not seem to care that Mum was drinking 2L plus a day and because off other medical issues she couldn’t remain hydrated!

I wasn’t there at the time, but Mum said that the nurse that was there looked very uncomfortable. Fortunately that doctor left - to where, I don’t care - but the damage had already been done. Mum will have to be on deaths door before I can get her back their again! Another doctor came in, he was a lot nicer and tried to figure out what the underlying issue was, but by this stage Mum felt so humiliated she just wanted out of there. So we got home that night, Mum has been in bed ever since hardly eating. She said to me this morning she hasn’t felt this bad for a long time. To say I am frustrated is putting it mildly! Fortunately when I explained to Maffra Medical Group what had happened the arranged for mum to see her own doctor Monday.