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Care Opinion

Visitor restrictions in maternity

Posted By jupiteryy85

"Visitor restrictions in maternity"

About: Armadale Hospital / Maud Bellas Maternity Ward & Neonatal Nursery

(as a relative),

I visited my relative and newly born first grandchild with my in-law and 8 month old grandchild, I travelled all a couple of hours, with balloons, presents and was excited to see the baby and my relative, we arrived and had to wait for an escort which I felt took valuable time away from the already limited visiting hours of 10-12, due to covid. When we eventually got to the ward we were met by staff members who asked who we were visiting and told that there could only be 2 visitors and my 8 month old grandchild was classed as a third person. We were astonished and questioned it and said they’re 8 months old, they then firmly and quite rudely said that they couldn’t go in my relative’s room as my grandchild wasn’t vaccinated. I thought, since when have babies been eligible to be vaccinated?

They absolutely ruined what should have been a joyous occasion and my in-law had to go and wait downstairs for me while I visited my relative alone. We had checked the website that morning and it did not mention anything about children, in fact it said partners and support persons can visit outside of those visiting times, but I believe my relative’s partner was turned away when they tried to visit my relative and baby, they only saw the baby when they were first born, then I believe wasn’t allowed again to visit. My relative was alone for most of their stay due to these rules you are implementing and I understand they were lonely and getting depressed. In my opinion, maybe you should rethink your rules and retrain your staff on how to treat visitors as I believe curtesy goes both ways.

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Responses

Response from Diane Barr, Executive Director, Armadale Kalamunda Group 2 years ago
Diane Barr
Executive Director,
Armadale Kalamunda Group

Submitted on 8/03/2022 at 11:02 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:58 PM

picture of Diane Barr

Dear jupiteryy85,

Thank you for taking the time to let me know of your experience whilst visiting your relative on the maternity ward at Armadale Health Service (AHS). Feedback such as yours enables Armadale Kalamunda Group (AKG) to reflect on its service which is especially important when it relates to the rapidly changing guidelines in response to COVID-19.

I am saddened to hear that you were not treated with the courtesy we expect our staff to demonstrate when communicating with visitors to AHS. The COVID-19 visitor guidelines are set out to protect our most vulnerable members in the community, patients in hospital, and preserve the health care workforce, whilst allowing people to support their loved ones during this difficult time where possible. The restrictions in place are to reduce the number of people attending hospital wherever and whenever clinically safe to do so and to minimise the risk of an outbreak in the hospital as far as practicable. This does unfortunately mean that a child is counted towards the visitor numbers. I am very sorry to hear about the way this information was communicated to you as this does not align with the organisational values of kindness and respect.

I understand that your in-law contacted the AKG Consumer Engagement Coordinator and also provided feedback relating to your experience. As a result of this valuable feedback, I can confirm that the Coordinator Nursing and Midwifery followed up immediately with the communications team regarding updating the AKG website. The website has now been updated to reflect changes to visitor restrictions. In addition, she has offered her sincere apologies for the way in which you were communicated to about the visitor restrictions in place and she has counselled the team regarding communication with visitors.

Once again, I am very sorry to hear of you and your in-law’s negative experience and can assure you that our team are committed to working with our patients and visitors to reach the best patient experience possible in the current COVID-19 environment, whilst ensuring our vulnerable community are protected.

Kind regards

Di Barr

Executive Director

Armadale Kalamunda Group

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Update posted by jupiteryy85 (a relative)

Di Barr, Thank you for your response. Whilst I understand you have to adhere to rules and regulations, I can not accept that a 8 month old baby is classed as a person, that it just simply ridiculous to me. Further to the previous email, when I was told to pick up my relative when she was discharged 2 days after a c-section, I attended with my elderly parent who was made to wait in the outpatients entrance for over 2 hours whilst I waited for your staff to get the discharge completed. During this time they would not even let my parent use a toilet, luckily they didn’t soil themselves. I feel your staff need to be retrained in the treatment of people as individuals and not all lumped together as elderly people who have different need to someone younger. I’m sorry but I was not left with a very good opinion of your staff or hospital and based on this experience, would not wish to visit it in the future.

Response from Diane Barr, Executive Director, Armadale Kalamunda Group 2 years ago
Diane Barr
Executive Director,
Armadale Kalamunda Group

Submitted on 9/03/2022 at 5:29 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 5:37 PM

picture of Diane Barr

Dear jupiteryy85,

Thank you for providing further feedback in relation to you and your families' patient experience. I would welcome the opportunity to expand discussion with you in relation to your concerns as our intent is to partner with our community and consider all options for service improvement. If you would be comfortable with discussing your experience further and providing me the opportunity to look into your experience, I would encourage you to contact our Consumer Liaison Office on (08) 9391 1153 or via email AKG_ConsumerLiaison@health.wa.gov.au.

Armadale Kalamunda Group is dedicated to providing the highest standard of service and I apologise that this was not your experience.

Kind regards,

Di Barr

Executive Director

Armadale Kalamunda Group

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