"My elderly parent's treatment in E.D"

My elderly parent was taken by ambulance to the E.D at Monash Clayton after having a bad fall and hitting their head on the way down.

My parent had a large lump and massive bruising come out on their face almost immediately. They arrived at the hospital around midday, was triaged, then seemingly left in a wheelchair in the E.D. I recall my sibling, my parent's carer, was not allowed to be with them so my parent was all alone.

My parent needed to go to the toilet so was taken by one of the ambulance people who then put them in a side room where I believe they were left alone from early afternoon until midnight without being offered any food or drink, I would also like to add that my parent is diabetic. When being placed in the side room, my parent expressed their concern that they may lose their place in the queue but was told the staff have my parent’s paperwork so it will be fine.

I believe my parent was finally taken to the short term ward around midnight after sitting in a wheelchair for about 11 hours, 8 of those hours being left on their own in a side room! A couple of hours later, my parent was taken to have a scan done of their head.

Whilst all this was going on, both my sibling and I had been trying to ring the hospital for an update but when our calls were being transferred to the E.D, I recall they were just left to ring out then disconnect.

I live over a three hour drive away from that particular hospital so I rang my adult child whose partner is a doctor and asked them if they may be able to find out what was happening with my parent.

I believe it took 8 attempts for my child to get through to the E.D where my child expressed their disbelief that so many hours had passed and my parent had not been seen to. My child was told that they are a public hospital and very busy.

My parent has private health insurance so my child wanted to transfer my parent to Cabrini where they could receive the treatment they needed. The hospital said they would need to be transferred by ambulance and by the time my parent would be transferred it was thought it would be faster if they stayed at Monash as they had been there for almost 10 hours at that time.

I realise the hospital system is under a massive strain but I feel this kind of treatment and lack of urgency of a bad fall and trauma to the head of a patient in their 90's is appalling in my opinion. I believe my parent could have developed a bleed on the brain yet they were left alone in a side room on their own for 8 hours with no care. I feel my parent was forgotten about and do not understand why they were placed in a side room instead of being taken back to the E.D after being taken to the bathroom.

I feel my parent's appearance alone, the lump and extensive bruising on their face, should have been enough for them to do a scan hours before they did. It was 13 hours after my parent's arrival before the scan was performed.

Our family would like some answers regarding my parent's treatment, I believe it could have resulted in tragedy.