"Respect"

I was in the Endoscopy Suite (Gastro) at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH). I was up in the early hours of the morning and drove over two hours, into the chaos that is CBD Perth, to be there half an hour before my appointment.

The young nurse taking my vitals tells me they don't need me to be sarcastic. I am not sarcastic but I was exhausted. I think all staff, everywhere, should not put up with abuse of any sort but I will not be tone-policed staff who are, in my opinion, dismissive with disdain that was palpable. But why?

I was there for my 3rd looky-loo, with still no decision on a date, method, surgeon or which department had the expense of me. ENT or Gastro? Who knows? In my opinion, I am but the shuttlecock in their budgetary badminton game. Get this straight, I drove for a total of over 5 hours that day for a half-hour look and an hour recovery.

I feel as though it seems one is supposed to feel ashamed for using a public hospital. I did not understand that outside of Emergency services, it seems that using public hospital facilities meant that one was somehow less worthy. It feels that one was an imposition on budgets and time and valuable skills.

There may be a duty of care for the ill, but in my opinion, it feels begrudged.