"No beds"

My parent had gone into hospital with excessive water in their legs, had pneumonia and had also suffered a heart attack. They had a varicose vein and because of the fluid in their legs and the restriction, my parent ended up having burst haematoma and it went up their leg a bit. It was a haematoma the size of a mango in an elderly person so it took staff ages to stop the bleeding. 

Clinicians at Manjimup Hospital conversed with clinicians in Bunbury Regional Hospital and decided to send my parent there as they thought it would need to be operated on.

The clinician in Manjimup Hospital told us my parent would be there for about 4-6 days. So, my relative picked up my other elderly parent to come up to be closer to Bunbury Hospital and got them booked into a hotel for 5 days to be able to see my parent because it was very touch and go.

They got up there no problems. The normal Emergency Department clinician saw my parent and then had a surgeon come by and have a look. They said there were no beds there so my parent needs to go back via ambulance to Manjimup Hospital.

My parent, who has very broken English, is frail and was very disorientated and with their heart, had a lack of oxygen to the brain, so they were very forgetful. They were also receiving medication so they didn’t know where they were. Yet the hospital was on the verge of sending my parent back to Manjimup Hospital in the ambulance and an ambulance ride is not a very nice ride, when they would have arrived back very late at night. Did it stress the family out – absolutely!

My relative was frantic but did not feel safe driving back home. They had also already booked the hotel for 5 days. 

The clinicians were then going back and fowards about whether Manjimup Hospital could accept my parent because, I believe, they didn’t want my parent to bleed out. The clinician at Manjimup Hospital asked for another opinion and I think that saved my parent from coming back. I think staff at that hospital have been great. 

My relative advocated for my parent and in the end, Bunbury Hospital said they had some sort of temporary room they could give them. The next morning, my parent was seen by a few more clinicians and was then sent back to Manjimup Hospital.

I think it was wrong for Bunbury Hospital to do this. At that stage, my parent was pretty weak and had a hemoglobin level of 8.7. That was too low to even have a blood transfusion due to my parent's heart issue.

I feel the system is not good enough because this shouldn't happen. A hospital shouldn’t accept a person if they don’t have a bed.

It's important to know that I am not condemning the clinicians in the hospital. The staff were exceptionally nice – I couldn’t say a bad word about the staff. They were trying to help and accommodate my parent as much as they could. Staff even gave sandwiches to the family to eat.

All the clinicians were good too. They did whatever they thought was correct. Before my parent was discharged, they had seen 4 clinicians which is great as the clinician at Manjimup Hospital had wanted another opinion. 

I feel things need to be done more precisely between hospitals when arranging transfers. I believe it is not acceptable to accept patients if you don’t have the beds available. I feel they must have some sort of category for country patients being transferred, even if they allocated a couple of beds for that set-up. Or allow a patient to stay until a bed becomes available. In the country, it is very, very hard to get an ambulance and they only have a certain amount of paramedics too.

I’m telling my story to help other people. I don’t feel the system they have is right. Again, it is not to do with the staff or clinicians. I can't ask for anything better than what the staff and clinicians have done. They were wonderful and couldn't have been more helpful.

But I feel the system is no good. Staff only have a certain number of tools they have available and can't do more than that.