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"My child broke their arm"

About: Kalgoorlie Health Campus Kalgoorlie Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

My teenage child was admitted through the Emergency Department after a basketball incident, which resulted in a Colles Fracture in their left arm. 

After an attempt at manipulation back into place that night whilst in the ED, the doctor on duty thought it would be better if the surgeon should look at it and possibly surgery was a better option.

We were admitted into the Theatre ward, and then moved to the Children's ward due to insufficient staff-to-patient ratios. 

The following day my child was required to fast from the morning due to the possibility of surgery to happen, but were told in the afternoon that this was not going to happen. My child eventually was wheeled into Theatre at in the afternoon of the following day.

I would like to thank the nurses on the ward that were mostly wonderful, however, I would question the actual ward facilities. 

Having had to actually stay with my child, because they are considered a minor, as a private patient, I would have assumed that we would have at least an ensuite. Instead, we had shared facilities, with which the facilities were inaccessible because it was assigned to one room only due to reasons unknown.

Overall I felt this experience has been quite disappointing from the lack of communication to the old squeaky bed.

However, I would like to say to those that have decorated the Children's Ward to be quite inviting have done an amazing job, it looks wonderful.

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Responses

Response from Peter Tredinnick, Executive Director, Regional Office, WACHS Goldfields 3 years ago
Peter Tredinnick
Executive Director, Regional Office,
WACHS Goldfields

Executive Director WACHS Goldfields

Submitted on 24/12/2020 at 2:41 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 8:17 PM


picture of Peter Tredinnick

Dear fracture15,

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us on Care Opinion.

I’m sorry to hear that your child fractured their arm and needed to attend the Emergency Department at Kalgoorlie Hospital.

This must have been very painful for them and worrying for you as a parent. I’m also sorry to hear that your child experienced a prolong period of fasting for surgery and then had their surgery postponed. This would have been a very disappointing and frustrating experience for you both.

Unfortunately, there are times when we have to postpone surgeries if patients present to the ED for urgent and sometimes life-saving surgery. While our staff try very hard not to postpone surgeries, there are times when this is unavoidable.

As a private patient, our aim is to assign your child a single room with an ensuite. On occasions, patients requiring rooms for clinical or isolation reasons will diminish our ability to assign these single rooms for our private patients. I understand your frustration and disappointment and I’m sorry that this caused inconvenience.

Thank you very much for your positive comments about our staff and the Children’s Ward, which I will ensure are shared.

If you would like to discuss your experience further, please contact the David Bowdidge, Operations Manager on 90805817.

I hope that your child is making a good recovery.

Kind regards,

Peter Tredinnick

Regional Director

WACHS Goldfields

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