"Emergency Department"

Me and my parent arrived at the Emergency Department late afternoon recently. 

On arrival it was busy and the triage nurse said we may be waiting 4 hours. We agreed to this as I was in so much pain and needed to see a Doctor. 

The minute I mentioned I’ve stage 4 endometriosis, the nurse said that I would be waiting so long for that. I certainly didn’t appreciate this.

I can’t honestly put down everything that happened after that because it would take me hours to write but we waited 6 hours before seeing a Doctor and then a further 4 hours before getting a bed. So 10 hours in ED. I believe this is completely unacceptable. 

We saw the security guard being verbally abused and their life was verbally threatened and their senior, in my opinion, needs training on what is and what is not acceptable. I certainly felt it was a code black situation but that individual was allowed in. 

I felt I had to beg for pain medication and my parent had to ask on a number of occasions for an update and for pain relief.

The vending machine didn’t accept card and we sat for 10 hours without being offered a slice of bread. 

A patient came in with a pretty vicious laceration to their head. I understand a ladder had hit them with force on the head. They had a pack on it and you could see the blood. Same nurse said you will wait 4 hours and the patient said maybe I will go home. The nurse answered ok and the patient left.

Now my parent works in the medical field and they were absolutely shocked by what we felt was a lack of care of this patient. 

A young child came in, in their parent's arms and like a rag doll. I believe their parent was concerned and paid money which, as I understand it, was because they had no Medicare. The child woke and I believe the parent felt the wait was too long and left but revisited about 10 minutes later to be told they would need to pay again. I believe the parent was very worried about their child and after a short wait, they were taken in to be checked by a Doctor. As I understand it, they were told the child was ok but the child came out and they got as far as the car park and the child collapsed again and the parent ran back in. Again I felt this is not adequate care. 

My experience along with, I believe, so many others, has really upset me and I feel the care and most importantly the management need to be aware and be accountable for this.