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A fall on hospital grounds

Posted By novemberdp78

"A fall on hospital grounds"

About: Broome Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

I was leaving the hospital after seeing a surgeon with my spouse. We were walking back to our car on a footpath when they fell quite heavily after tripping on a lump that had been crafted into the path as you turned the corner by some truly skilled concreter.

There was no markings or warnings about this idiotic path situation. My spouse fell so hard and fast they didn’t get a chance to put their hands up to break their fall, landing heavily on their chest and then face. I jumped to my spouse's aid after seeing them fall. They hit their chin and left cheek and has quite dome swelling.

The staff from the physio department saw what happened and came to our aid to help get my spouse up from the ground. We went back into the hospital to see someone about what had happened.

The nursing manager from the ED came out to see my spouse and to help us. They told us to see the ED staff. After we eventually got to see the triage nurse they told us we would need to wait for a few hours (fail not good enough) to get seen by a doctor. I asked for form to fill out an incident report as this is very poor design in my opinion, and an OHS tripping issue. I was unable to be given form either by reception or by the hospital management that eventually came to see us.

I was told to report my issue here on this website.

Seems pretty lacking in care and formal response in my opinion.

We asked about getting the video camera footage and was told that’s too hard with privacy laws (not good enough I felt).

My spouse was damaged and embarrassed by this incident and has smashed their new apple watch.

And torn a new garment that they wore for the first time that day.

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Responses

Response from Wendy McKinley, Operations Manager, Broome Hospital 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Wendy McKinley
Operations Manager,
Broome Hospital

Submitted on 24/07/2020 at 10:05 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 10:21 AM

Dear novemberdp78,

Thank you for your post and please accept my apologies upfront for this experience.

I came and spoke with you and your wife on the day of this incident and am disappointed to learn that my explanation to you in respect of the complaints and claim process was not clear and that you felt the response from the Broome team was lacking in care. I am very sorry for that.

I can assure you I take this situation seriously and that directly after we spoke I contacted the Maintenance Manager to ensure that the area of concrete you mentioned is marked up so that no-one else has a fall, and to ask them to deal with the blocks that were pulled out from the pathway further down. I personally checked progress on this the following day and noted that the blocks had been replaced and I am aware that the markings are being progressed.

I also asked that the complaints and claim information was sent on to you. I have followed up this morning and the Business Manager will send this through to you today.

I would like to clarify that you can seek a copy of the footage through the Freedom of Information (FOI) pathway. Again, my apologies if I was not clear in explaining this to you. The Business Manager will also send you out the FOI information today.

In respect of the wait to be seen by a Dr in ED, as I am sure you can appreciate, people are seen in order of priority. I understand how frustrating this can be when you are sitting in a waiting room and cannot see what is happening behind the doors. I do know that at the time this occurred the team were dealing with a critically unwell person and, unfortunately, this meant that there was a longer wait time to be seen.

You have my contact details so please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

Please pass on my well wishes to your spouse. I hope she is feeling less embarrassed and sore today. My apologies again to you both.

Sincerely,

Wendy

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