"Poor communication to family members by staff"

Recently, our elderly parent was admitted to FSH for a gastroscopy under GA. Following the gastroscopy, our parent's oxygen levels were low and were retaining a lot of fluid, so the hospital kept them for observations and decided to admit them to ward 6D after doing an x-ray.

The x-ray showed fluid around their lungs and heart. Our parent was put on IV medication to reduce the fluid and also on oxygen. The following day, blood tests were taken and we cannot find out the results of those tests or what they were for. The day after the blood tests, a CT scan was done and again, we can't find out the results.

Our parent also suffers from central vision loss due to macular degeneration and mental health disorder. They require constant care, both mentally and physically, as well as assistance from us (siblings) around discussing and interpreting medical issues. Both of us have been trying to obtain daily updates from Ward 6D at Fiona Stanley Hospital for the duration of our parent's stay.

We have had many telephone calls with nursing staff on ward 6D and it seems they are not permitted to give out the details, even though we are next of kin. We were both advised to make an appointment with a Dr, which we tried to do, and was told by the nurse coordinator of the ward they couldn't make an appointment without speaking to the Dr first. Based on our experience, it takes up to 5 phone calls to even get someone to pick up on the ward and then the communication and service, in our opinion, was very abrupt and we felt lacking any valuable information regarding our parent.

My sibling met the nurse coordinator face to face the second day to discuss an appointment with a Dr. To my understanding, the Co-ordinator was apologetic and gave them an update on my parent from a nursing perspective. The nurse coordinator called the Dr and my sibling overheard the conversation when I believe the Dr said my sibling would have to wait at least 2 hours and they didn't have time to meet with them. I believe the doctor also wouldn't agree to make an appointment with my sibling for the following day.

Calling FSH, in our opinion, has been an ongoing and real problem. It seems calls are either directed to the wrong ward, calls are not answered and just ring out. We feel we have also experienced rude behaviour towards us from the ward clerk, with comments such as everyone is too busy to talk to you, call back after a certain time, and they will put us through to the nurse coordinator, and if they don’t answer then, they are too busy.

There was no offer to take a message that we had rung. We did ask for a direct number to call, to potentially reduce the time to get through to the ward but was told no I couldn't have it by the ward clerk. The nurse coordinator did, however, give me their direct line when we spoke with them that day.

In our opinion, it is extremely frustrating to not be able to get information about our parent's condition and particularly, what is the diagnosis or what are they investigating, also what will be the longer-term effects of this and their care plan. We felt this was not an acceptable level of communication or care for our parent and creates uncertainty and frustration for us.

I would like to emphasise that the nursing staff are providing very good care to my parent and when I have spoken to one of them, they are professional, helpful, polite and caring. It appears they are extremely stretched for resources and I believe somewhat have their hands tied as to what they can tell family members.

I would appreciate it if this communication issue can be rectified as a priority. I would like someone to respond to our concerns.