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Lack of communication and care

Posted By matarhd87

"Lack of communication and care"

About: Kerang Hospital

(as a relative),

Rang hospital that I was on way with my spouse who was in extreme pain with acute pancreatitis (40min drive away). Arrived, went through paperwork, took bloods and then waited at least 45minutes I believe, for nurses to get in contact with the on-call doctor (it was the morning on a weekday). I believe they couldn't get in contact with local doctor so had to call a doctor from the agency who then checked my spouse through video call. Morphine was finally prescribed and soon after, nurses got in contact with local on-call doctor who didn't come and check on my spouse. They just said my spouse would need urgent transfer to another hospital.

So after an hour of sitting around with no care, an ambulance arrived and my spouse was rushed to another hospital with lights and sirens. I believe the blood results that came in the same time they were being wheeled away by paramedics never got passed on so when they arrived at the other hospital there was then more blood tests taken to confirm acute pancreatitis that had already established. Very disappointed the on-call doctor was so hard to get on to and we were left alone in a room for so long not knowing what was happening with my spouse who was in extreme pain.

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Responses

Response from Sue Gray, NUM District Services, Clinical Services, Kerang District Health 4 years ago
Sue Gray
NUM District Services, Clinical Services,
Kerang District Health

Submitted on 8/01/2020 at 2:31 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 3:01 PM

picture of Sue Gray

Dear matarhd87,

Thank you for sharing your story, I hope this finds your spouse on the mend and back home.

Please accept my apology for any distress caused for the delay in communicating with you and your spouse during the time of your spouse's presentation, we encourage our staff to keep our patients fully informed at every stage of their treatment and will highlight your feelings and concerns to our staff.

Kerang District Health has an Urgent Care facility, so this means we don’t have a doctor on-site and we don’t always have a doctor on call, the My Emergency App (video call) is to initiate treatment and sometimes for the whole of treatment and care, this was utilised to relieve your spouse's pain.

When staff did have contact with the local GP, communication of your spouse's presentation from the staff to the doctor escalated their care to be transferred to a larger facility.

It was unfortunate that the bloods were not provided prior to your transfer, however, all hospitals are able to access pathology results online, this may have been attended to by the larger hospital and they may have required further testing.

I realise in situations where you have no control, it can be distressing and feel like it takes forever for anything to happen, and this is why communication is so important, once again I will share your feelings with our staff.

Kind regards,

Sue Gray

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