"Pleased with the care of a complex needs patient"

My parent is currently an inpatient at PJC, and has complex medical and rehab needs.

Having had poor nursing/medical care at a slow stream private rehab in Victoria, my parent's Surgeon had them admitted to Box Hill hospital and moved into PJC.

My parent went from a new private room with their own bathroom, to a 4-bed shared ward and bathroom. I believe this has had a few challenges as not every patient is considerate of others.

Yes... the facility is incredibly old and shabby in my opinion, with stained carpets. I believe this is not the fault of the staff, but rather the State Government Funding in my opinion, so any comments regarding this aspect should be directed to Management or your local member of parliament. I believe it is not the staff's fault. 

Even though the building is old, the garden outlook from each room is lovely. My parent has been happy with the food compared to the private system. 

The main benefit from being in the Public System has been appropriate experience of staff, accountability, and better integration of services.

In the private system, we asked for a Podiatrist to attend and take a mould of my parent's foot for a specialist insole. 3 weeks there and it didn’t happen. 

At PJC, staff noticed the issue themselves and organised a podiatrist to visit.

The best thing about my parent's move from private to PJC has been that they have been assigned a key contact person who knows their case and communicates with the family. We honestly feel the staff and doing a great job and trust in their knowledge and experience.

PJC also has a thorough system in place regarding Covid and visitor screening ... 24/7.

The Private Hospital only had controlled screening on weekdays. But on weekends, it was DYI take your own temperature and sign in.... cost saving no doubt.

Overall, having seen both Private slow stream rehab and Public, on the surface the private hospital looked lovely and the physio was good, but I felt it was unable to manage a patient with complex medical care needs. 

Complex medical care needs on top of required rehab have been much better in the public system for slow stream rehab. I cannot comment on fast stream ( up to 10day stay) for non-complicated cases as that may be great in Private System. 

On reflection, if we were to re-use the private rehab system, I would only choose a facility that is integrated with a large private hospital network, not a private stand alone facility that doesn’t have medical back-up and experience outside of their scope of practice.

Overall, we have been very pleased with the care my parent has received at PJC and the staff have been approachable, engaged and pleasant to deal with.