"Bad experiences waiting for day procedures"

I was booked in for an endoscopy ultrasound, which is a routine part of my care to monitor a cyst on my pancreas. Every time I have this procedure it’s an incredibly long wait.

I often see patients that are booked in and assessed after me going into the one of two procedure rooms ahead of me, and I’m never given a reason to think I’ve not been forgotten. I understand that it’s a public hospital and that there is a long wait usually, but no one ever checks in with or keeps me informed about where on the list I am at or what to expect in terms of wait times.

In my opinion, the simple act of engaging with the patient can make a huge difference, and is the one thing I’m advocating for here, because it tells patients they have not been forgotten and helps them understand the reason why they are waiting, ultimately, I feel, helping them to relax.

My last procedure was particularly difficult as I was in the midst of a mental health crisis. No one checked in on me. I was sobbing in my bed watching other patients go ahead of me and spoke to one anaesthetic nurse about my distress when they came to look at my chart. I feel my distress could have been eased with appropriate communication from staff. Based on my experience of day procedures, I believe staff in public hospitals avoid patient contact and don’t make any effort to get to know the patient because the time of stay is relatively short compared to other admissions. To me, it’s almost as though they expect a confrontation with a patient so do everything they can to avoid you. What’s worse is that they will come to your bed to check the name on the chart, getting your hopes up that you’re next in line, and then put the chart back and look at the next person's chart until they identify the right person. Surely they can look up the correct bed number before they make their approach.

While I’ve sat there for hours I’ve observed the manager of this particular endoscopy unit, who I understand has no contact with patients. On this day I watched them leave mid-afternoon when I and many other patients were still waiting for our procedures.

My procedure in the end was cancelled due to emergencies in the hospital. I understand that this happens but given I was already in distress, this was yet another significant blow. As a result, I no longer want to have this procedure - which is a fundamental part of my healthcare, which in my opinion, is a failure of the system