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Emergency restrictions

Posted By swinght44

"Emergency restrictions"

About: Swan Hill District Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

My exclusively breastfed baby was taken up to emergency as advised by the maternal child health nurse.. at the door my partner and I were greeted by a staff member who said only 1 adult. I wasn’t happy so they got a nurse who was out the front also and this 'lovely' staff member advised that the less emotional enter only... so off I had to go to sit in the car while my infant baby was crying and hungry. We are both double vaccinated and both covid negative...absolute disgrace in my opinion! 

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Responses

Response from Chloe Keogh, Executive Director of Clinical Care, Executive Offices, Swan Hill District Health 2 years ago
Chloe Keogh
Executive Director of Clinical Care, Executive Offices,
Swan Hill District Health

Overall responsibility for the running of the health service, reports to the Board of Management. Acting for 3.5 months to replace Long Service Leave.

Submitted on 12/04/2022 at 2:04 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 2:15 PM

picture of Chloe Keogh

Dear swinght44,

I am so sorry that you had such a challenging experience in our ED with your breastfed baby. This is a really difficult story, and I am sorry that it was a negative experience for you, your baby, and also probably for your partner. As a health service we try to promote and support breastfeeding as it is acknowledged as the best food for babies, and it is also very distressing to hear your crying baby when you know that the only food they take is breast milk, and that they are unwell.

I would be really interested to hear more from you, and to fully understand what was happening. I can be contacted on ckeogh@shdh.org.au

Kind Regards

Chloe

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Response from Kath Curran, ED NUM, Emergency Department, Swan Hill District Health 2 years ago
Kath Curran
ED NUM, Emergency Department,
Swan Hill District Health

Submitted on 12/04/2022 at 9:21 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 13/04/2022 at 8:25 AM

picture of Kath Curran

Dear swinght44,

I am very sorry your experience in our Emergency Department was so distressing for your family. We work extremely hard to try to prevent such poor experiences. I would really love for you to reach out to us so we can discuss this further and perhaps provide you with the care your baby may need now and the information you may need in the future when using the Emergency Department. Also, so I can discuss with the person involved in this incident and re-educate.

Currently we have restrictions on the number of carers that can be in the department due to the risk it places upon the carer and other patients within the Emergency Department. I think there may have been an element of miscommunication - as I am sure if the staff knew you were breastfeeding your baby they may have recommended you be the better carer to be with your baby in the Emergency Department on this occasion. I am keen to ascertain if this was or was not the case. I can be contacted on kcurran2@shdh.org.au any time to discuss further.

Kind regards,

Kath

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