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Lack of compassion

Posted By geminiym48

"Lack of compassion"

About: Perth Children's Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a service user),

I am a staff member of CAHS but one evening recently, I became a consumer of services at PCH ED after my teenager injured their leg while playing community sport.

My partner expressed concern in attending PCH ED following the recent tragic events and I assured them that my colleagues would take good care of our child.

On arrival at PCH my partner approached staff at the front desk of the ED to ask for a wheelchair as my teenager was in considerable pain and unable to weight bear.  Staff went to look for a chair returning 10 minutes later stating there were no wheelchairs! A second staff member then asked how old my teenager was and my partner replied 16 years. The nurse replied that they won't see my teenager here and provided no further information. My partner rang me in a panic relaying what had happened and I advised them to go to a different hospital (which is across the road!).

Here are my concerns:

-There are no wheelchairs available in an ED department?

- Staff seemed unwilling to provide information on what to do given that my teenager could not be seen at PCH. Surely they could have taken a few minutes to direct to the closest adult hospital.

-My health literacy is good. What would someone else have done in the same situation?

- I believe the rules are confusing given that my other child was seen for an outpatient appointment at age 17 years.

- I imagine that people attend an ED in a heightened state- I believe a little bit of compassion goes a long way.

It turned out my teenager had a significant break which required surgery.

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Responses

Response from Tim Jones, Co-Director Medicine, Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA 2 years ago
Tim Jones
Co-Director Medicine,
Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA

Head of Department

Submitted on 6/07/2021 at 12:08 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:00 PM

Dear geminiym48,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on visiting the Emergency Department (ED) at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH).

I sincerely apologise for your recent experience, not only for your teenager being in considerable pain, but also, for the lack of a wheelchair being available to provide some relief and comfort for your teenager, as a result of their sports injury. I understand this would have exacerbated an already stressful situation for yourself and your family.

I would like to reassure you that under normal circumstances, wheelchairs are available for patients to freely use in the ED. Recently we have experienced an unprecedented increase in activity and presentations to our hospital meaning that unfortunately, wheelchairs are now subject to limited availability. Wheelchairs when they are borrowed externally, are not always returned by those who have borrowed them initially and it can take some time before the wheelchairs are replaced. Our wheelchairs are used by a diverse number of people attending PCH every day. For instance, new mothers who are inpatients at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) who are visiting the PCH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or patients needing to use a wheelchair to visit our car parks.

PCH provides paediatric care and treatment for children and adolescents who are 15 years old or under. As your child is now 16 years old, the procedure that should have followed on presentation to the ED was nursing staff requesting your child be seen by an ED Consultant who would have discussed with your partner and teenager that adult emergency care was required, as opposed to paediatric, before recommending that they attend emergency at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH), which is adjacent to PCH. I am very sorry to hear our staff were unhelpful in providing your partner with this adequate information regarding your teenager and their need to attend an adult hospital for their injury.

Please accept my apology on behalf of CAHS for your poor experience with hospital staff. Compassion, Respect, Excellence and Accountability are four of our Hospital’s core values and staff are expected to act in accordance with these values at all times.

I hope that your teenager is making a full recovery from their injury and will get back to playing community sport soon.

Kind regards,

Professor Tim Jones

Co-Director – Medicine

Perth Children's Hospital | Child and Adolescent Health Service

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