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Care Opinion

Our ED experience

Posted By Parent 1

"Our ED experience"

About: Perth Children's Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

I just wanted to share our appreciation for our emergency department experience. I found the staff in the main department were empathetic and showed the utmost care. Understanding it is a busy department, we were kept informed in a (relatively) timely fashion. And I felt both doctors and nurses ensured that both us and our child were okay.

Things to improve?

The triage system could be better streamlined. A Centrelink style ticketing system I believe does not, in any way, reflect how unwell a child may be in triage. For example, if there are 5 kids ahead of you, unless you raised concern (with one nurse and a clerical staff usually already with someone) then it seems to me there would be no way they would recognise a very sick child. Nor, I believe, would you be seen. In my opinion, there should be a system to increase triage resourcing when there are more than a few families waiting.

Once you meet the triage nurse, I found they were professional and give me undivided attention.

I believe parking is also expensive. As I understand it, no multiple same day entry means you are paying $40-50 plus a day to visit your own child if you come and go. Which I feel is often necessary if you have multiple children. I recall validating your parking ticket requires you to walk to the other end of the hospital. Surely a multi-day entry ticket would make sense, in my opinion, or a prepaid parking voucher credit.

I believe the after-hours food and drink access other than Uber eats could be improved.

We cannot fault the staff on the wards. Or the facilities. Thank you.

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Responses

Response from Sue Baker, Nursing Co-Director (Medical), Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Sue Baker
Nursing Co-Director (Medical),
Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA

Submitted on 6/01/2022 at 3:24 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 5:48 PM

Dear Parent1,

Thank you for sharing your positive feedback of your family’s experience in our Emergency Department (ED) at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH). I will ensure that your thoughtful comments are fed back to all staff involved with your child’s care, as I’m sure they will be delighted to hear your kind words.

It was really encouraging to hear that our ED staff were empathetic and provided the utmost care for your child, and I know that our staff always endeavour to uphold our organisation’s core values of Accountability, Collaboration, Compassion, Equity, Excellence and Respect and this is a fantastic example of that.

We really do appreciate your feedback regarding our ED triage system, however our triage system is already aligned with the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) which is the national standard. We will ensure that your suggestions for an increase to triage resourcing are taken into consideration in the future.

In relation to parking, PCH is part of the QEII Medical Centre site which offers paid parking for patients and visitors. Parking rates at government hospital facilities are generally determined by their categorisation in accordance with the Metropolitan Access and Parking Strategy (MAPS). The MAPS establishes parking charges for metropolitan health sites. The visitor parking fees for 2021/2022 at QEIIMC are currently capped at $24.50 for a 24-hour period. For multiple visits it's best for visitors to park in pay-by-plate/open air car parks (e.g. Car Park 3A and Caladenia Crescent) and purchase a full day ticket. Visitors will be able to park in these areas multiple times throughout a 24-hour period.

We also appreciate your feedback regarding after-hours food and drink access and are aware that improvement in this area would benefit many families attending our hospital and we are exploring options to improve this. Currently, the food outlets at PCH are privately run by commercial café owners. Accordingly, the respective operators plan their hours based on their experience with regards to the level of customers using their outlets at PCH at various times. Most of the PCH food outlets are open from 6.30am until 7.30pm most days. There are also two vending machines in the Emergency Department that stock snacks.

Parents that are unable to leave their child’s bedsides are encouraged to approach nursing staff who can assist in finding the best solution that can meet their individual circumstances.

Thank you again for raising these important issues and for sharing your positive feedback.

Kind regards,

Sue Baker

Nursing Co-Director – Medicine

Child and Adolescent Health Service

and

Danny Rogers

Executive Director Procurement, Infrastructure and Contract Management

Child and Adolescent Health Service

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Parent 1 (a parent/guardian)

Thank you for the well considered reply.

I appreciate the comments have been had at executive level.

My comments re: triage relating to families who are in the initial waiting room prior to having been assessed by the triage nurse or registered onto EDIS. As a result, they are yet to be triaged.

If there are > 3-4 families awaiting triage assessment (a process that may take 5-10 minutes per family); then I believe it is entirely possible for an unwell child who is a walk-in to the ED but may eventually be assessed as an ATS1 or ATS2 to remain unattended and unrecognised for a period of time. That is until they are seen by the initial triage nurse if resources were not brought in to speed up the process; or review the acuity of those waiting in the initial waiting room.

Whilst this may be a rare occurrence, observing the process, it does raise a clinical governance risk that I feel needed to be raised. I hope this clarifies my comments.

We have been grateful for the overall quality of care and facilities at PCH. Thank you again.

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