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"Awareness of disconnection in a vital service"

About: Monash Pathology Wonthaggi Hospital / Integrated Care Centre (L.Rigby Centre)

(as a carer),

Every 4 weeks, for the past several months, my elderly parent has been attending L.Rigby Centre at BCH Wonthaggi, for their life-saving blood transfusions.

The nursing and clerical staff we dealt with at this centre are absolutely wonderful in their dedication to their jobs and personal patient care. Prior to each scheduled blood transfusion, it is essential for my parent's pathology to be done. This has been arranged as a home collection pathology on the day before transfusion, to allow cross-matching and my parent's HB reading to determine the correct blood type and quantity of units required, for optimal time management and ease of processing patients at the centre.

Unfortunately, despite all attempts by the nursing staff to schedule and reconfirm this procedure prior to the booking, I believe the BCH pathology department 'forgot' to attend - not once but twice, which has prompted me to raise this issue.

Not only does the failure of the system put extra unnecessary pressure on the nursing staff I believe, to halt transfusion procedures whilst waiting for pathology to do cross-matching and HB status on the morning of the scheduled transfusion, I feel it is also very taxing & stressful on an elderly person to be forgotten and expected to sit the extra time at the facility, where they are understandably anxious to be away from the comforts of their home and family.

Although extremely grateful for the service this facility provides my parent, I would like to see an improvement in the method of pathology collection that clearly is the only downfall and a disconnection in the otherwise fantastic service my parent receives. 

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Responses

Response from Jan Child, CEO, Bass Coast Health 2 years ago
Jan Child
CEO,
Bass Coast Health
Submitted on 26/07/2021 at 7:58 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 8:58 AM


picture of Jan Child

Dear falconwq77,

Thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns in relation to the disconnect you experienced between BCH services within the L. Rigby Centre and our contracted services, Monash Pathology. The care and treatment you and your parent experience is extremely important to us. I apologise for the delay in getting back to you and I apologise to you and your elderly parent for this disconnect.

We have met with our contracted service provider, Monash Pathology, who provide an excellent service. They have acknowledged that in this case there, there has been some human error resulting in home collections being missed. Unfortunately, this has resulted in you and your loved one’s poor experience.

BCH and Monash Pathology service have discussed your feedback and experience and have identified areas for improvement in the coordination and communication of pathology collection in the home. Monash Pathology’s South Gippsland Collection Team Leader will also be conducting a full review of your experience to provide education and training to all new and existing staff who undertake home collection. This will ensure the correct process is understood and followed by all staff to minimise human error of missing patients scheduled for home collection. BCH and Monash Pathology are dedicated to improve this disconnect you and your parent experienced to provide a timely service and appropriate care that your parent needs.

I will also take the opportunity to provide your positive feedback to our staff at the L. Rigby Centre, as I agree the service they provide to our community is wonderful.

Again, thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback - we are grateful to understand what works and what doesn't so that we can improve our service.

Wishing you and your elderly parent the best,

Yours in Kindness,

Jan

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