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Care Opinion

Delayed surgery

Posted By leatherrz53

"Delayed surgery"

About: Perth Children's Hospital

(as a parent/guardian),

My child and I have had to travel from another hospital for surgery on their arm. We were told to be at the hospital early in the morning. My child had begun fasting from the night before. We have now been waiting all day with delay after delay. I have had to book accommodation as we are from out of town and have no other contacts. I know the normal replies will be given about priorities etc. But it is coming up to 12 hours waiting at the hospital with no patient communications or ambassador. I know it's a busy hospital but in my opinion, there has to be a better way.

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Responses

Response from Carrie Dunbar, Nurse Co-Director, Surgical Directorate, Perth Children's Hospital | Child and Adolescent Health Service 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Carrie Dunbar
Nurse Co-Director, Surgical Directorate,
Perth Children's Hospital | Child and Adolescent Health Service

Submitted on 30/09/2020 at 12:55 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:47 PM

Dear leatherrz53,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the delays your son/daughter experienced while waiting for emergency surgery at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH). I understand that it is difficult for young children and their parents when they are required to fast for an extended period of time and delays occur. I would like to assure you that PCH Theatre staff make every effort to ensure operations are completed in a timely manner and that fasting is minimised.

I am very sorry for the significant delays experienced in accessing theatre. I agree that it is not reasonable to expect young children to understand the need to fast for an extended period of time. Delays such as those you have described tend to result from a surge in emergency presentations that need urgent surgery over the course of a day/night and some of these emergency surgeries need to be completed with a higher clinical priority. Unfortunately, this means that some patients are unavoidably delayed.

When an increase in emergency cases is experienced, additional theatre time is organised to reduce waiting times. However, this relies on the availability of staff and the absence of short term staff can impact on the ability of the hospital to allow for extra time in the theatre.

All staff try their best to make waiting times for patients as comfortable as possible and I regret that was not your experience on this occasion and based on your feedback I will seek to improve the level of communication with families so that they can anticipate when surgery will occur.

On behalf of PCH please accept our sincere apologies for your poor experience while awaiting your child’s procedure. Whilst the information provided above may explain the situation, it does not diminish the ordeal your family has suffered through, and I deeply regret this was the case. I hope your child is well since their discharge, and has since made a full recovery.

Kind regards,

Carrie Dunbar

Nurse Co-Director | Surgical Directorate

Perth Children's Hospital | Child and Adolescent Health Service

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