"Denied appropriate care"

An ambulance brought my aged parent into Fiona Stanley (FS) ED a few weeks ago. They were unable to stand due to intense shooting pain coming up through both feet, and they had a serious stomach pain. By early hours of the morning the next day, they decided to operate on an incarcerated hernia. The day after that, medical staff in FS surgical ward sent my parent to Fremantle Hospital. I believe they were not happy to go, but my parent and I were assured by the nurse manager, and by a junior surgeon, that they would receive much better care there, and that the issue with their feet (which I believe had still gone undiagnosed) would be attended by well-trained specialists, including in the area of geriatric health.

More recently, I believe my parent had not been seen by anybody regarding the pain in their feet. They are now on pain medication around the clock, and still describes the pain as 7/10 when they stand. The medical staff on Floor 8 at Fremantle says my parent is good to go home, and that they will not have access to any other care except via outpatient services. My sibling and I have pleaded with the Fremantle medical team to get another specialty involved but they will not - I feel there is no interdisciplinary care available to my parent, or any kind of holistic treatment.

I am attending another meeting coming up to decide what services can be put in place for my parent to go home, or whether we would like them to be transferred to a private hospital. They have suggested a hospital in Perth.

I feel that as a family, we are utterly gutted by the lack of care that has been given to our parent, and the absolute bullcrap that we were fed by FS medical staff about the care we were to receive. My parent is in a very precarious medical state, and we are appalled that the medical team at Fremantle think that by masking the pain with pain killers is in any way considered a substitute correct medical treatment.