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"Breast Cancer"

About: Royal Perth Hospital / Outpatients Surgical Clinic

(as a relative),

I feel hopeless and very upset! I feel we have been treated like an object and not a valuable life and human. Going to the public system could cost us my sibling's life... It was our first time with this system and I feel we made a big mistake.

I believe the Oncologist never told us our options, including a test that could determine how effective Chemo will be (we would have been more than happy to pay for it). We lost 6 months for chemo and then the Oncologist simply said the chemo didn't work. My sibling's cancer is very aggressive and I believe this can cost us their life. What bothers me is that my sibling didn't want the chemo and we forced them as the doctor told us chemo will be the most effective. My sibling is a PhD and, in my opinion, they knew better.

In my opinion, the outpatient clinic is truly depressing and should have been closed 10 years ago. I am a Technical Director myself, I couldn't believe my eyes seeing such an old system in Australia. Shocking, in my opinion... We are trying to be zero carbon but you should see the papers in this place. I believe they move them in trolleys! It seems there is no sign of any advanced digitalisation. I feel this place is back in time, 20-30 years in my opinion.  

I felt the surgeon couldn't even be bothered to tell us how the surgery went. They simply disappeared and we haven't seen them since. I feel they didn't do a good job with the margin and we lost 4 weeks until another surgery. Then another surgeon showed up for the second surgery. We didn't know them, never met them before. No idea who really did the surgery. In my opinion, you get what you get in this system. Who knows if they have used my sibling for their training? 

There was another person, I believe having the same surgery on the same day, also ended up with the same complication and going for the second surgery. Too much for just bad luck in my opinion.

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Responses

Response from Lesley Bennett, Chief Executive, East Metropolitan Health Service 3 years ago
Lesley Bennett
Chief Executive,
East Metropolitan Health Service
Submitted on 26/06/2020 at 12:49 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:50 PM


picture of Lesley Bennett

Dear asteropexy84,

I am deeply sorry to hear you have been left feeling so upset in relation to your sibling’s treatment for breast cancer at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH). It is an extremely stressful situation for you all and is disappointing to read you don’t have confidence in the care provided. This is not the standard of support our staff aim to deliver when they provide care for patients and their families.

I acknowledge our facilities and records management methods may not be cutting edge, however, I would like to reassure you this does not in any way impede our clinical service provision. I do appreciate you taking the time to share your family’s experience at (RPH) especially during a time when you are so worried about a loved one’s health and wellbeing.

Without specific details, I am not able to provide any further information and I would encourage you to contact our Consumer Engagement Unit on phone (08) 9224 1637, 8 am to 4 pm or email RPBG.feedback@health.wa.gov.au to help us to undertake a thorough review of your experience to see if we are able to be of assistance in resolving your concerns.

Kind Regards,

Dr Lesley Bennett

Executive Director

Royal Perth Bentley Group

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