"Lack of trust in duty of care"

My elderly parent tested positive for COVID-19 recently. My spouse and I tested positive on the same day. All 3 were reported by me to the self reporting platform.

Short timeline of subsequent events below:

-My parent had pneumonia 2 months ago for which they were hospitalised (not COVID related) at a private hospital.

-Due to vulnerability, had a friend deliver an oximeter to my parent (as I understand it, they were not given one by Eastern Health).

-Over the weekend, my parent called an ambulance as I believe their fever was approx. 39 degrees and not dropping it seemed.

-I believe Ambulance assessed my parent as being ok to be treated at home.

-A few days later, they received a text from Eastern Health stating they declined care – which was a false claim.

-On the same night I wrote a message to a member of the Eastern Health Board with my parent's details

-They received a call a few days ago, post the above message to that board member and requested assistance again. I believe none was provided – I was at my parent's house when this call was received; having left my home in to go to my parent's house to check on them in person as I was the only “safe” one to attend given that we contracted COVID on the same day. In my opinion, my parent was far from okay when I got there.

-Recently one night I called my parent and asked them to call an ambulance or I would be taking them to hospital. My parent called an ambulance and was taken to Box Hill hospital.

-I received a text from them the next morning – apparently zero care overnight, buzzing nurses who did not seem to assist and oxygen level of 84.

-I immediately called the hospital and spoke to the Night nurse in charge  advising them that as I am out of isolation I will be coming to check on my parent as they had no care overnight. I do not present a risk to them and nor do they to me.

-I attended the hospital just prior to 8am. Day Nurse advised that clearance needed to come from doctor but they would ensure I saw my parent. I left the hospital without seeing my parent and having heard nothing further from them nearly two hours later.

Speaking to my parent...

-I believe a nurse accused them of being aggressive when the nurse went in to see them and threatened to call security. My parent told the nurse that they were welcome to and they would be contacting Vic Pol as they had zero care.

-The nurse accused me of being rude. My parent showed them the text they sent me that morning and asked how they would feel if they received communication like this from their own parent. I believe the nurse quickly changed attitude to being extremely helpful

-At the time of writing this, my parent has now been diagnosed with COVID pneumonia.

I feel Eastern Health have a lot to answer for. My parent is one of the very fortunate ones who both has the ability to communicate as well as having children to advocate for them. Based on this experience, we are in a position though that we do not trust that Eastern Health are fulfilling their duty of care and request an exemption for me to be able to go in and see my parent whilst the position remains that we are not at risk to each other. Note – I received my booster vaccination in December and as stated above, have just been cleared of isolation due to infection.

If there is anything you can do to bring what I believe is the poor service of Eastern Health to the right attention, we would be grateful.