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"My fiance's experience in the ED"

About: Fiona Stanley Hospital / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

I had taken my fiancé to the Emergency room late in the night. They had tripped over and had fallen into a cinderblock head first. My fiancé had blacked out and was bleeding quite badly.

The Nurse saw us at the window. Looked at the wound, said that they may need to glue the laceration, and bandaged their head to stop the bleeding. We then proceeded to wait 5 hours until we were called.

I found it a bit ridiculous, in my opinion, when another patient who I believe had a broken toe, went in before my fiancé who had a head injury. Once we were finally called, a Nurse saw to us. We then had to wait for a Doctor. Then the doctor came in after waiting another 15 minutes, talked to my fiancé about the incident and said they'll have to speak to the more senior doctor. We then waited for another 45 minutes for the doctor to come back, only to just give us a piece of paper about concussion. 

No one tended to the wound, cleaned it, put disinfectant on it. They hardly even looked at it. I am appalled by the cleanliness of the room we were in, as there was blood on the wheel of the bed that I believe has splattered up. I don't believe this was my fiancé's blood by the way. 

I think it is unacceptable for someone with a head injury to:
1. Have to wait a total of 6 hours, only to be given a piece of paper of possible symptoms.
2. Not have their wound cleaned or even properly looked at, or,
3. Have someone else's blood on the bed. 

In my opinion, this hospital needs to work on the systems in place because I believe this is unacceptable and I personally will never be going back! 

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Responses

Response from Neil Doverty, Executive Director Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group, South Metropolitan Health Service 4 years ago
Neil Doverty
Executive Director Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group,
South Metropolitan Health Service
Submitted on 28/02/2020 at 5:22 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 5:28 PM


picture of Neil Doverty

Dear uniformen84,

We are disappointed to hear of your experience at Fiona Stanley Emergency Department (ED). 5 hours is an unacceptably long wait to access care in an ED. Our staff work hard to see all patients in a timely manner and I am sorry that you experienced such a long wait. Fiona Stanley Hospital does have the busiest Emergency Department in Western Australia, and we do prioritise patients based on clinical need.

It appears we did not meet your expectations regarding the standard of care for head injuries. It is very reassuring that your fiance’s condition remained stable during their time in our department. We promote excellence in clinical care and communication to all of our Emergency clinicians. I apologise that you did not experience this as we endeavour to deliver quality emergency health care at Fiona Stanley ED.

The cleanliness of your patient care space is extremely important to us and I apologise that it was not as it should be for your visit. To be able to improve our service we would like to specifically investigate the issues you have raised. We encourage you to contact the Fiona Stanley Hospital Patient and Family Liaison Service on 6152 4013 or by email FSHFeedback@health.wa.gov.au to enable us to provide you with a more detailed response.

Kind regards,

Neil Doverty

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