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Did not receive treatment for an injury

Posted By sigmaqk54

"Did not receive treatment for an injury"

About: Bunbury Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

My partner was rushed to Bunbury Hospital by ambulance from our local hospital with severe dehydration and potential head trauma after a fall and hitting their head. They had noticeable concussion and was in a very confused state. My partner also has an ongoing lower back injury that they are waiting to have surgery on which requires them to take pain medication throughout the day. 

After an hour of waiting they were finally given a bed in the Emergency Department where they asked continuously for some pain relief as they had not had their usual medication for over many, many hours now and was noticeably uncomfortable and in pain. After asking for pain relief after about 4 hours they gave my partner IV panadol! This as you can imagine was not effective and they again asked for something more effective.

After the first doctor finally came to see them late in the evening and ordered the head scans that they had been sent there to actually get, we were relieved that things were actually moving along. Still no further pain relief had been given. Later I left my partners side as they had fallen asleep and went to stay at my parent's which was close by to sleep and had my phone on just in case the hospital called for anything.

When I woke up in the morning my partner rang me and said they had been discharged and was ready to be picked up. 

After I picked them up, I asked if the scans were all clear, and then they told me that they didn't even do the scans, nor did they help them out with any extra pain relief other than the original IV panadol. 

As you can imagine, I was absolutely shocked that they had not done the scans and that they had left them in pain for all that time. I was disgusted at this.

The nurses were great, but my partner only saw one doctor the entire time once. So it was an entire waste of time really. 

I don't understand, I mean what if they had bleeding on the brain and they just sent them home to die?

I am just gob-smacked by the whole experience. So that's our story.

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Responses

Response from Jo Moore, A/Director Strategy & Service Development, WACHS South West 4 years ago
Jo Moore
A/Director Strategy & Service Development,
WACHS South West

Submitted on 16/10/2019 at 3:06 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 3:06 PM

picture of Jo Moore

Dear sigmaqk54,

What a frightening experience you and your partner had at our Emergency Department recently. I am so sorry that this happened to you.

Keeping patients and their families and carers informed and involved in the decisions being made around their care is very important to us.

Your experience shows us that this could have been done better on this occasion, especially around communicating with you about the delay in being able to provide a bed in the ED, pain relief, and investigations such as scans not being done.

At discharge, you and your partner should have been given a patient information sheet that would have made you aware of any symptoms that may have required further medical attention, along with a discharge summary.

We would like you to be part of making the changes that will improve the experience for other patients and their families. If you would like to talk about your experience and be part of making the changes, please feel free to contact me personally on 9722 1421.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your story with us.

Yours sincerely,

Jo Moore

A/Operations Manager Bunbury Hospital

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