"Hospital Care at Busselton and Bunbury"

I went to emergency at Busselton Health Campus recently and then later that night I was transferred by road ambulance to Bunbury Regional Hospital.

I went to the ED at Busselton Health Campus because I was in severe pain in the lower gut and basically had a pretty good idea what could be wrong with me because of my health history – Marfans Syndrome – a few years ago – aortas dissection (a few months ago) followed by two high-risk surgical procedures (last few months) involving grafts to prevent further dissection and prolong my life. Then several months ago two separate episodes of volvulus (twisted bowel) requiring immediate surgery. So, I reckon my pain was related to those events from a few years ago.

The triage nurse (Helen) immediately and correctly realised the seriousness of my situation after I showed her the summary of my health history my GP has issued me with and Helen dropped tools and took me through the ED team where I was dealt with urgently. Nurses Candy, Tanya, Sarah and Marnie were first class – friendly, efficient, professional and caring over the next hours or so I spent in ED. Thankfully the pain went after about 2 hours and a CT scan during which I was attended to by Dr Adam – relatively young and in my opinion, clearly knew what he was doing and his professional and very pleasant personality and the same attributes as the nurses left me with a feeling I was receiving the very best of care.

Later that night I was transported by ambulance to Bunbury Regional Hosp for overnight observation and in case I needed to have surgery related to the bowel and I believe this surgery could not be done in Busselton. The ambos were first class and the follow-up care by the nurses and doctors I received at Bunbury, although I felt it was not as involved as in Busselton, was also first class. The next morning, I was fit and well to be discharged and to top it all off they arranged a volunteer driver to take me back to Busselton. In my opinion, we are exceptionally fortunate to have such a high-class public hospital and health care system in WA. I think I am well experienced to make that statement particularly after the events in my life a few years ago and now this year. I believe the key to it all is the highly competent and caring people.