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"Bad attitude towards an old patient"

About: St George Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

My parent who is an elderly patient has recently been at the Emergency Department of St George Hospital overnight. Through this experience, we have dealt with so many nice healthcare professionals there including the waiting room nurse and the registrar, they made everything easy and clear to us.

In the morning, my parent was given a discharge letter and a nurse came and took the cannula out of their arm. Soon after, my parent was changing their clothes to go home, the bandage on their arm moved and my parent started bleeding, blood was suddenly everywhere on their hands, on the floor, on bed sheets and covers. My parent panicked and called for help while trying to stop the bleeding using their other hand. A different nurse came and instead of calming my parent down, or trying to stop the bleeding, they were yelling, you should be careful, you are on a blood-thinning agent, and it's easy for you to bleed.

I arrived at my parent's bed at this time and I heard the nurse yelling. I believe the nurse only stopped yelling after I came in and I was trying to stop the bleeding myself! The nurse then moved and got a new gauze and bandage and fixed the bleeding. Then they said to my parent, it's just blood,  go and wash the blood off your hands. My parent was putting on their slippers to go to the sink on the opposite side of the room when the nurse yelled again, what are you doing?! I said go and wash your hands! I said to the nurse, take it easy on my parent, they are trying to put their slippers on. The nurse replied, sorry I did not see they were putting them on.

I am so upset about the nurse's attitude towards my parent, who is an old person who can not defend themselves. My parent doesn't even understand English, the hospital records clearly state this fact.

I avoided giving any direct feedback to the nurse, but I made sure I got their details. On our way out, I stopped at the ED inquiry desk and I asked for a Feedback form to give feedback on the experience inside the ED, I was told I could scan the QR code hung on the wall and it would take me to a survey where I can put my feedback. Unfortunately, I found that the survey was only concerning the waiting room but not the actual ED wards.

I wish no other old patient gets exposed to this kind of treatment, it would be soo hard on them, especially if they are on their own.

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Responses

Response from Vicki Weeden, General Manager, The Sutherland Hospital & Garrawarra Centre 4 years ago
Vicki Weeden
General Manager,
The Sutherland Hospital & Garrawarra Centre
Submitted on 9/12/2019 at 5:12 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 5:25 PM


picture of Vicki Weeden

Dear authenticqj66,

Thank you for taking the time to share your story. Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to you.

I would also like to apologise for the poor experience you encountered with your parent during your recent visit to St George Hospital Emergency Department. I was very sorry to read of the poor communication by the staff member with your parent. I will ensure that the staff in the Emergency Department are made aware of your feedback as this type of communication is not in line with the values we strive to uphold at all times.

I do thank you for your lovely feedback about other staff that looked after your parent. I will also make sure that this kind feedback is passed on to the staff. We are very fortunate to have such dedicated staff working here at St George Hospital.

Thank you again for bringing your concerns to my attention. I hope any future interactions you may have with our ED are more in line with the outstanding care we aim to deliver.

Kind regards,

Vicki Weeden
Acting General Manager

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