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"Treatment of my parent"

About: Sunshine Hospital

(as a service user),

I am so bloody angry and heartbroken as I found out my parent's sibling had called my parent for their birthday and spoke for 10 minutes I believe, before saying goodbye. By some twist of fate, their sibling had not hung the phone up straight away, only to hear the nurse talk aggressively to my parent. My parent's sibling was very upset and angry, as when the nurse thought the phone call ended, I believe they said, well f****** get out of my way, I've had just about enough of you. My parent's sibling has spent the next two nights restless and I believe feels very saddened, so much they cannot stop crying.

I cannot believe that a nurse working with dying, elderly people could be such a cold, cruel person towards someone who is dying, very confused and afraid. Who the hell does that?

Furthermore, recently, my parent's partner received a call saying that my parent was involved in an incident where they allegedly fell back in a wheelchair and their leg was bruised from the knee to their thigh bone. To me, that doesn't make sense as they have no bruising on their arms, head, shoulder or hip let alone, they do not need a wheelchair. My question is, how did my parent access the wheelchair and why were they in it enough to harm themselves?

Another time, more recently, when my sibling went to see our parent, I believe they found them in a nappy full of faeces and quite sedated. My sibling is a nurse and could see that they had been like that awhile. My sibling was very upset and asked the nurses for a clean towel and face washer so they can shower my parent and they showered and dressed our parent (it seemed the nurses were too busy on their phones to assist). I feel that Sunshine Hospital has shown us in such a short time that their care, or lack thereof, has only made my parent become dependant on care as they can walk, eat and go to the toilet but they've chosen that our parent wears a nappy.

A couple of weeks ago, I took on some bongos as my parent was a drummer and played the bongos and I believe they took them off my parent, so all they can do is take off their shoes and clothing as I feel they have nothing there to stimulate their minds. Now, my parent deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion and patience. Sadly, I feel some of these nurses do not treat my parent like that and I want this nurse stood down.

The ward itself is, in my opinion, bare and the rooms are not clean as they should be. I believe they have nothing to stimulate their minds, which I feel if they did, my parent would not be agitated to the point of constantly taking their clothes and shoes off and on for hours.

I believe this needs to change, as these elderly patients here are somebody's mum, dad, grandad, grandma or friend who are very sick and terminal.

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Responses

Response from Care Opinion Australia 3 years ago
Submitted on 17/06/2020 at 2:20 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 2:29 PM


This response has been published by Care Opinion on behalf of Western Health

Dear novemberxy44,

Thank you for sharing your comments about your experience with Sunshine Hospital. I am very sorry to hear of your concerns regarding the care your parent is receiving. When an elderly loved one is in hospital it is already a time of great anxiety for the family, without the additional strain from worrying about the quality of care being provided. Your feedback highlights many areas where it appears we have not met the standards of Western Health, and I apologise for the clear distress this has caused.

Western Health values your feedback as it provides much needed insight into the experiences of our patients and families, allowing our staff opportunity to reflect on their practice, and identify areas where we can improve our care.

Where possible, we like to connect with patients, families and carers to formalise the feedback process, providing responses that directly address concerns or issues. To enable a full review of your parent’s individual circumstances, I would encourage you to contact Western Health’s Patient Representative Team on 1800 319 631 or via feedback@wh.org.au.

I sincerely apologise for the distress you and your family have experienced. I hope we hear from you soon to enable us to provide a more individualised response to your concerns.

Sincerely,

Dr Narelle Watson

Director of Quality, Safety and Patient Experience

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