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My child's diagnosis appointments continually cancelled with...

Posted By falconkx35

"My child's diagnosis appointments continually cancelled without notice"

About: Broome Community Health Service Broome Health Campus / Paediatrics

(as a parent/guardian),

Over the past two years, we have been re-booked, forgotten about and left waiting without any form of apology or notice in regards to a specialist paediatric appointment for my child for a review to gain a diagnosis for special needs/disabilities to help them function in every day-to-day life struggles. This has happened seven times. After finally meeting with the behavioural pediatrician, they agreed on the diagnosis my child meets that we had originally sought help for. A letter of confirmation and referral is needed to begin any formal diagnosis process and was promised this upon leaving.

It is 5 weeks later and after many emails between myself, my child’s school and our support coordinator to the Dr, I believe none of us have been able to make contact and get any answers. I am extremely dissatisfied and disappointed in the way we have been treated and do not appreciate how much of a muck around we are having to go through for something that is so important for my child's future. If this is how the system is, it is very disappointing and with the minimal services available in this area being remote, I feel sorry for all the families in the same situation as me. I feel it is not ok and it needs to be changed.

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Responses

Response from Melanie Thompson, Broome Paediatrician, WACHS - Kimberley 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Melanie Thompson
Broome Paediatrician,
WACHS - Kimberley

Submitted on 2/08/2021 at 2:07 PM
Published on Care Opinion Australia at 2:08 PM

Dear falconkx35,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us and share your experience. I am very sorry to hear that you and your child have been affected by multiple cancellations and delays with receiving the documentation you require. I acknowledge how concerning and frustrating this must be for you and your family and I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for the delays that you have experienced. While we do our best to ensure that scheduled appointments are not changed, regrettably there are times when appointments need to be rescheduled. We also do try to maintain continuity of care for our patients and their families with their paediatrician so that they don’t have to retell their story to a different paediatrician. However, the number of cancellations and delays that you have experienced does not align with the way we aim to provide timely care.

I am conscious of the challenges in getting strong supports in place for children with developmental needs, as well as the high demand for all developmental services across WA at present. I would like to let you know that by September, we have an additional paediatrician starting work in the region, which will improve accessibility and availability of care for our outpatients. We are also in the process of developing a new model for developmental paediatrics, which will mean a three-fold increase in the number of appointments, and ability to focus on the administrative tasks (including correspondence, reports and meetings with schools), which forms an important part of the process in obtaining supports for children. We hope that these strategies will ensure that any future experiences for your family, and for other children and families requiring care are more positive than the circumstances that you have described.

I would like to support you further to ensure that the reports you need are sorted out as soon as possible. In order to be able to do this, I would appreciate if you could make contact with me. My name is Melanie Thompson and I am the Paediatric Head of Department. I can be contacted via email at: Melanie.Thompson2@health.wa.gov.au or via my mobile 0418 402 019.

I look forward to receiving your call.

Yours sincerely,

Melanie

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