"Emergency services"

Recently we entered the emergency room at Werribee Hospital because my partner had a strong pain and inflammation on one of her knees. We arrived at the hospital around 8pm, they took her personal details, blood pressure, temperature and also they took X-rays. After that we were told that we had to wait for a doctor to be available. Six hours later we decided to leave the hospital because no doctor never came to see us.

At about 1am we tried to get some information about the waiting time and funnily enough, a person who identified herself as one of the doctors on shift, said she regretted the long wait but that at the time they were very busy and then she went back to her cubicle to sit in front of the computer (she was sitting right in front of the area where we were waiting). One hour later, around 2:30am, we decided to leave the hospital as we believe that there was no intention of providing the service.

It is understandable that in an emergency unit priorities are established. But that 6 hours go by and even then, there is not even a (one!) doctor to assist you, is in my view simply unacceptable.

I personally believe that staff working in healthcare must honour their service vows and do their job with compassion, sadly it is not what I saw that night. On top of the anguish of seeing a loved one going through severe pain, having to deal with what I believe was a pedantic and carefree attitude of some staff, really leaves you devastated.