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Negative experience with the Doctor on-call service in ED

Posted By Clyde

"Negative experience with the Doctor on-call service in ED"

About: GPs in the Gippsland Electoral District Sale Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

I recently attended Central Gippsland Health Service Emergency Department in Sale. I called ahead prior to my visit, as I had a baby with croup like symptoms. ED reception stated they were very busy. During the phone call to reception I asked if I could access the Doctor on-call and stated I was happy to pay to access this service. I was told to come into ED and they would organise the Doctor on-call for me.

I arrived at ED after 10pm and was seen straight away in Triage. 

At approximately 10.30pm I was sitting in the waiting area and the ED receptionist called me over to the counter and apologized profusely, they tried calling the Doctor on-call and the Doctor on-call had stated they were not coming in as they didn't do call outs after 10pm.

I was left a little confused and frustrated as I was under the impression I could access this service and happy to pay for this service that I believed to be available, so I could get my little baby seen to quickly and get them home to bed. 

Other than this issue, the Emergency Department staff at the hospital were very good.

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Responses

Response from Mandy Pusmucans, Director of Nursing, Sale, Central Gippsland Health 5 years ago
Mandy Pusmucans
Director of Nursing, Sale,
Central Gippsland Health

Submitted on 24/04/2019 at 4:45 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 4:58 PM

picture of Mandy Pusmucans

Dear Clyde

My name is Mandy and I am the Director of Nursing for the Sale Hospital at Central Gippsland Health.

I am so sorry for the confusion that you experienced and that you didn’t get the service that you expected for your baby. We normally do have the system where the Doctor on call can be called in, however it hasn’t worked for you on this occasion. Thank you for letting us know, as we can investigate further and see what might have gone wrong.

I plan to investigate a little further and gain the assistance of Dr Suhan Baskar, who is the Director of Medical Services at Central Gippsland Health.

It would be helpful if you were able to provide a little more detail – if you feel you can, please contact me on 5143 8512 or via email at mandy.pusmucans@cghs.com.au. I would appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.

Yours sincerely

Mandy

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