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"Surgery cancellation by admin mix-up"

About: Prince of Wales Hospital / ASB L0 - Admissions Department

(as the patient),

My shoulder surgery had, for the 2nd time, been cancelled due to administration negligence. After an 18 month wait- I received a call from admissions that I could have my surgery in 2 weeks. I agreed and I received a letter with a pre-op appointment and a confirmation for surgery.

At the pre-op meeting - my surgeon advised me that the surgery was cancelled the week before because admission had overbooked by 5 surgeries.

This was the 2nd time for the same surgery. Around a couple years ago, the day before surgery, I was advised due to administration error- the file was not in order and was missing an authorization from anaesthesiology dept. The admissions manager apologized and asked me not to file a complaint if they can get me a spot within 2 weeks. I agreed and two days prior to my rescheduled surgery- covid hit and all surgeries cancelled. Nothing happened until POW Hospital called me to organize a surgery recently. I cancelled my gym membership, advised my work for leave for the next 4 weeks, organized help for myself and advised all my meds and doctors of the upcoming surgery.

My shock to find out that my surgery was cancelled, and I was not advised. I’ve waited for 3 years for this surgery and twice- due to what I feel is incompetence- my life has been put on hold and my mental health suffering. I'm tired of hearing it’s because of covid- incompetence is not caused by covid. In my opinion, POW has some badly trained clerical staff that I believe are not doing their job properly. Errors like this cause delays and cost money. My surgery should have been a couple of years ago. But I’ve been living in extreme pain because it seems a clerk messed up their responsibilities.

Staff skills

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Responses

Response from Andrew Maxwell, Co Director Surgery and Perioperative Medicine (SPM), SPM, Prince of Wales Hospital 2 years ago
Andrew Maxwell
Co Director Surgery and Perioperative Medicine (SPM), SPM,
Prince of Wales Hospital

Senior Manager

Submitted on 31/03/2022 at 4:57 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 5:39 PM


Dear upsetbear,

I apologise for your experiences regarding the booking of your shoulder surgery. From the details you've outlined in your feedback it would appear that our regular booking processes have not been followed. I sincerely apologise that you attended for your pre-admission appointment only to be told about your surgery cancellation, we definitely would have preferred to contact you in a more timely manner to inform you of the cancellation and avoid this confusion.

The reductions in Elective Surgery over the past 2 years as part of the response to the Covid pandemic have caused a large number of patients to exceed their originally allotted surgery waiting time, we are working hard to plan our Elective Surgery recovery and give our patients the treatment they require.

If you would like to contact me on SESLHD-GeneralManager-POWHSSEH@health.nsw.gov.au I will follow up specifically on your case and let you know the plan for your care.

Regards,

Andrew Maxwell

Co-Director Nursing and Operations, Program of Surgery and Perioperative Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital

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