"Injured ankle couldn't get the right support"

I had injured my ankle during a camping trip and went to the emergency department in Dandenong Hospital for help. When I got there I was seen straight away as I was in a lot of pain and couldn't stand on my feet.  

They got me to do an X-ray and the scan showed I had fractured my ankle. They wrapped my leg up to protect it, gave me some crutches/pain killers, an appointment with the outpatient department and sent me home.

The issue there was that I feel the doctor I was dealing with should have got me a wheelchair to help me get back to the front of emergency. Instead, they made me walk back with one foot and crutches, for at least 500 meters to get back to the front. It took me forever to get there as I believe was still in shock and exhausted. I had to stop at least 10 times and rest, it was pathetic!

Second I'm a sole trader and can not work with this injury.  I was given an outpatient appointment with no advice or idea when I would get back to work. The appointment was a week after my incident, which I thought was pretty good timing and couldn't wait to get some clarity on the situation and amount of time of the injury.

When I got to the appointment, I had a CT scan done at the hospital for when I would see the doctor. When I did see the doctor, it was for as little as 5 minutes. They gave me their first name and that was it, I had no other information. The doctor put me in a Moonboot and told me to go home and wait for my MRI scan appointment. The doctor gave me no information on the injury or explained it in terms that I feel a normal person would understand, no emotional support or guidance.

When I phoned up about my MRI Scan, they told me I would have to wait a week and a half to get it and another week after that to see the doctor. So that was another 3 weeks I had to wait to get any clarity on the injury. I couldn't wait that long as my business was losing money in front of my eyes as I waited.

I paid $300 for my own MRI the next day and made the outpatient department give me a booking with a doctor in the next couple of days, as I had no time to sit around as my financial situation wasn't getting any better and I still had no clarity on the injury.

Finally, I saw a doctor (I had to wait 2 hours in the outpatient department and I was the first patient to be seen). I still don't know their name as they mumbled it as they spoke and gave me no information about themselves.

In my opinion, the doctor in the outpatient department had no idea of what they were looking at when they saw the MRI. They went out of their office and spoke to their superior. The doctor came and gave me the advice from what their superior told them. I would have loved to have spoken to the superior but was given no access. The advice was to stay at home and let it heal and see what the fracture would do overtime and the ligaments that have snapped to heal up. No information or advice on what has happened to my ankle or future consequences.

Finally, after that, I had enough and I arranged to see a private ankle specialist to get some sort of advice and clarity at my own cost.

I was able to get an appointment within a week and a half with him. When I saw the specialist, I gave him all my scans that I have done and he had a good look at my foot and did some physical checks himself.

He straight away got a picture of an ankle out for me and drew out and explained exactly what had happened to my ankle. He showed me similar cases he had dealt with in the past (hundreds) and how they were similar to mine and how my would end up. Finally a professional was able to give me some clarity, time frame and the percentage of chance of having my foot back to some sort of normal state.

At Dandenong hospital, the doctor from the Outpatients Department told me that my foot would never be the same and that I could never again do any hard intensity running or sport, which is fine, but a shock to the system as it wasn't explained why! Again this didn't help my emotional state.

With the specialist, they were able to explain to me that with regular strengthening work with my physio, I would get back within 3 months, or worst case scenario 4 months, and should aspire to get back to normal, which included running. They reminded me that these type of injuries happened all the time with sports people and most of them go onto have long careers as it can be managed which was nice as it was some clarity and timeframe as my life was on hold!!

Finally, after 6 weeks I got back to Dandenong hospital and saw a different Doctor. I had an X-ray done that morning and was able to see them straight away at my appointment  (no 2-hour wait as before). This Doctor was fantastic, they showed me how my leg was getting back to normal on the scan and that I should start seeing a physio and start to learn to walk in the moon boot (this whole time I've been or crutches). They nicely took their time and spoke to me about my injury and explained everything in detail the same as the specialist did (not like the first doctors).

Leaving that appointment I knew what was happening with my injury and how long I had to wait till I got back on the tools- which was 3 months altogether, which was nice to get some time frame so I could organise with future jobs and current ones. In this time I lost a lot of current work and future work as I didn't know what would be happening because I couldn't get an answer.

Now several months on I have thankfully got back to somewhat normal with the help of my physio and I'm back working and living a normal life.

I was supposed to go back to Dandenong Hospital to see another doctor to see how my leg is going with the healing. What they didn't organise for me was an MRI scan/appointment before my consultation and because of that, it has now been rescheduled to a later date.

In my opinion, this is just another stuff up by Dandenong Hospital and no care was given by the staff. Now I have to wait for a phone call for my MRI scan, cancel work appointments and wait longer to see a doctor. Plus I had cancelled a job for the date of my original appointment and now I won't be able to fill it in time and have lost money for it - again no care given by the hospital in my opinion.

In conclusion that is my story of my ankle injury and my time with Dandenong Hospital and its staff that I saw. I will never in my life ever go back to that hospital under any circumstances or would I ever recommend it to any of my family or friends.

From this experience I have now gotten private health as I have lost all faith in the public sector as I couldn't go through a situation like that again, having a heavy injury and not knowing what was going to happen or any advice for weeks on end, until I went out of my way and got my own through a professional surgeon.

I pay my taxes, which I believe contribute to the funding of that particular hospital, and feel that it is been run like that and believe certain people are not getting the care they deserve.

As a taxpayer, I believe I deserved better from professional doctors that I felt showed me no emotion for my situation or could even give me their names. I really didn't feel like a person but only a number!

I hope this gets read and gets back to the right individual who can help with some sort of change as I believe people in need or in pain deserve better!

Thanks.