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Care Opinion

My stay in the day surgery ward

Posted By Hop Along

"My stay in the day surgery ward"

About: Geraldton Hospital / Day Surgery

(as the patient),

I was booked for surgery which required me to stay in hospital overnight. I was admitted to the day surgery ward for my procedure. 

During my stay, I was the only patient of my gender amongst six other patients. We were only separated by curtains. At one point one of the other patients had their curtains open and they were doing stretches next to their bed and I was exposed to their private parts. They did not realise this, but I’m glad my children were not visiting at the time.

I feel that if the day surgery ward is to be used as an overflow or surgical ward it should still have male and female patients separated on each side. 

Other than this incident my stay was really good. I felt well looked after even though they were really busy on the first night the coordinator came to help the staff settle the ward as they had lots of patients return from theatre. I felt I was well informed and included in my care. 

Bedside handover was done at each shift change and I was asked to be included. 

When my blood pressure dropped I was informed of the need to escalate to the doctor on call and the nurse (Karen) was checking my observations frequently. 

The student nurses Romy and Emma were very good. And they listened to my needs and concerns. I feel they are to be commended on their excellent care and believe they will make great empathetic nurses when they qualify. 

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Responses

Response from Derek Fraser, Operations Manager Geraldton Hospital, WA Country Health Service 2 years ago
Derek Fraser
Operations Manager Geraldton Hospital,
WA Country Health Service

Submitted on 17/11/2021 at 10:20 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 18/11/2021 at 9:49 AM

picture of Derek Fraser

Dear Hop Along,

Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at the day surgery ward. Please accept my apologies for our lack of assistance to maintain privacy for the other patient and any distress or embarrassment you may have felt. There are challenges to maintaining the separation of men and women within inpatient care and the staff who allocate beds are acutely aware of trying to ensure everyone’s comfort.

I will take your feedback to our next patient flow meeting and discuss ways to reduce the risk of recurrence along with your ideas to separate the genders.

The team at Geraldton always aim to provide all our consumers with professional compassionate care and it was fantastic to hear the team achieved this by ensuring you were made to feel comfortable and reassured.

We are fortunate to have staff like Karen, Romy and Emma who ensure they partner with our health consumers, put them at the centre of their care and that our consumers feel included in their care. Taking the time to communicate provides comfort and calm during a time when our patients are vulnerable. These demonstrations of our values of communication, quality and compassion can make all the difference to a person’s experience and ultimately lead to positive patient outcomes.

I look forward to passing on your compliment to the team.

I wish you well for your recovery from the surgery. Thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind Regards,

Derek Fraser

Operations Manager Geraldton Hospital

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