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Care Opinion

Years to get a diagnosis

Posted By Fruxj64

"Years to get a diagnosis"

About: Fitzroy Crossing Hospital Patient Assisted Travel Scheme - WACHS Kimberley

(as the patient),

Had sudden pain in my knees around 2 years ago, presented to the clinician at the local hospital, only offered ultrasounds and xrays that showed no real problem. In constant pain and unable to continue my active lifestyle so I finally asked for a referral to a specialist in Perth as I was going there later that year and this had not been offered to me locally. This required an MRI, and I was given some advice.

After around six months of no exercise, started to exercise again till lots of pain so presented again at local hospital a few months later to get a physio referral as thinking I need to strengthen my muscles in this area. The clinician gave me CT and physio referral. I was not contacted by the physio until 3 months later for this referral, within this time I had chosen to seek private physio which meant I needed to take a day off work each week and travel a round trip of about 500kms to attend these appointments.  After four weeks of this could still feel an underlying issue so seeked more advice from a sports doctor in Perth as getting an appointment at my local hospital was near impossible as they kept getting cancelled.

So 2 years later, around late last year, I visited a sports doctor in Perth and after MRI it was realised my knee problems are from my hamstring area. I was referred to a surgeon in Perth where it is thought I may need proximal hamstring surgery. I needed to see the surgeon first as I have only had a phone consult, then they suggested I have a cortisone injection with ultrasound as a first option as the surgery is serious.

So I went ahead and booked these in Perth as unable to get a referral to any of the visiting specialist from Perth. As I needed to travel to Perth for this, I applied for PATS only to have this rejected because this service is offered in my area. So why, after about two years of constant pain and being unable to sit for longer than 10 minutes, plus having to stop most physical activity, and still no local clinician had given me a referral to a visiting specialist.

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Responses

Response from Chris Wium, Senior Medical Officer, Derby and Fitzroy Crossing Hospital, WACHS Kimberley 2 years ago
Chris Wium
Senior Medical Officer, Derby and Fitzroy Crossing Hospital,
WACHS Kimberley

Submitted on 22/03/2022 at 7:32 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 23/03/2022 at 1:53 PM

Hi Fruxj64,

My name is Chris Wium and I am the Senior Medical Officer for the Derby Fitzroy Valley Health Services.

I apologise for the frustration you may have felt during the delays of finding the underlying issues of your knee pain. I can only imagine that this must have caused you increased stress in the last two years. Our services strive to provide the best care possible for our patients throughout their journey and I am sorry this has not been your experience.

With your consent I would like to personally look at your notes relating to this specific issue, to allow me to investigate the areas where we can make improvements to our services. This will also allow me to provide feedback to the Doctors & Allied Health Professionals to avoid similar events in the future. I am curious to understand more about the recurrent cancelled appointments and would like to speak to you to seek more information.

Fitzroy Crossing Hospital provides services through visiting Allied Health Professionals (Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, etc) on a monthly basis and are allocated patients depending on their need at the time. I understand your decision to seek private Physio given that you were in pain, three months must have felt like a long time.

Although we endeavour to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible, practising medicine in rural and remote areas can at times have limitations. Derby hospital has previously had an Orthopaedic Specialist travel up every three months however we have seen a reduction in these services due to the current COVID 19 cases in WA. Unfortunately, Category 2 and 3 procedures have been paused, which means these services are now not available on a regular basis.

In relation to your travel expenses, I note that you have incurred costs that PATS may be able to reimburse so please forward any cost related to the travel. We would be able to communicate with PATS on your behalf. I would welcome the opportunity to help manage your care while looking at what happened to improve our process.

You can reach me on 08 9193 3343 - I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Chris Wium

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