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Lengthy wait times for babies/toddlers

Posted By sierratf38

"Lengthy wait times for babies/toddlers"

About: Karratha Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

My toddler had fractured their finger/hand which an Xray and telehealth conference to PCH confirmed. The first presentation in Karratha Health Campus was a lengthy 6-hour wait, while numerous patients coming in well after us and I believe only having to wait an hour max before being seen. A lot of them were older people wearing masks, I believe the priority system at Karratha Health Campus is not aligned with anywhere else, prioritising adults I believe with the flu looking for a dr certificate, rather than a toddler in pain with a fractured finger and hand.

To make matters worse, instead of doing a proper cast they made splints with plaster and placed that on their arm and wrapped with a bandage. Every second day for 8 days we were returning because the splint would either break or slide straight off my child's arm. Each one of these visits the wait time was between 4-7 hours.

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Responses

Response from Lisa Smith, Executive Director, West Pilbara, WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara 3 years ago
Lisa Smith
Executive Director, West Pilbara,
WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara

Submitted on 17/12/2020 at 12:53 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:00 PM

Dear sierratf38,

Thank you for taking the time to share your recent experiences at Karratha Health Campus. I am so sorry that these experiences were not happy, and that you felt your toddler was not prioritised based on their needs.

Karratha Health Campus Emergency Department assesses patients according to a Triage system that is used across Australian Hospitals and determines their priority for being seen. If you could kindly contact me at the hospital with your details, I would like to explore if there were any issues within our process and discuss your concerns. It would also allow me to look into the clinical reasoning for the choice of splint applied to your toddler's arm and your wait times upon each of your return visits.

Thank you again for sharing your story. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards

Lisa Smith | A/Operations Manager Inland and West Pilbara

WA Country Health Service Pilbara

T: (08) 9144 7639

E: lisa.smith3@health.wa.gov.au

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