"Emergency department handling"

My GP ordered an urgent imaging diagnostic scan, but by the time I had left their practice, all of the local operators had closed (5.45 pm). I called Health Direct for some advice regarding whether I could wait until the morning to get it done, or should I attend the hospital to get it done immediately, as they were concerned that I had a potentially life threatening issue. Health Direct advised me to go to the ED to get it done, which I reluctantly did, after the Health Direct nurse outlined the possible scenarios of me not getting it done.  There were not very many people waiting and I was triaged within about 30 minutes, where I handed the triage nurse the request form for the scan and described my history, current symptoms and concerns.

All that needed to happen then was for the ED staff to send me around to the imaging section, the scan could have been completed, and I could have either waited for the results to come through or gone home to wait for a call regarding the results.

Instead, I was asked to wait in 'Fast track' along with 5 or 6 other people.

After a number of hours of waiting (with no-one being called through) I started to worry that the diagnostic technicians would likely have left for the evening.

My symptoms were worsening, but as there was absolutely no staff around, there was no-one to report this to, and therefore nothing I felt I could do. It seemed to me other patients had approached the clerk and reported worsening symptoms and were told to return to waiting. In the meantime, I believe there were no ambulances that were coming through, and there were no major emergency patients waiting in the other area to have been the cause for the delays. In the whole time that I was there, perhaps 2 patients got called through. I was eventually called in at 1230 am after waiting for over 6 hours (in 'fast track'). As I was walked through the ED ward, I noticed that almost all of the cubicles were empty and there were many staff, both nurses and doctors, who appeared to me were not doing anything at all apart from general chatting (I recall their conversations had nothing to do with patient care and were conducted loud enough for anyone to hear). When the doctor came to see me I repeated the information, symptoms and concerns as before, and also the fact that the only reason that I had come down was that I was advised to as my GP had sent an urgent request for the scan. The doctor confirmed my concerns that the scan would not be able to take place as the diagnostic staff had indeed left for the night, many hours ago. The doctor then considered admitting me in order to have the scan in the morning which I was not happy about as they were not going to / able to do anything overnight anyway without the scan, so being admitted would achieve absolutely nothing.

I was eventually discharged approximately 3 hours later after blood tests and a CT scan (which was not the type of scan that the doctor had urgently ordered, I believe nor would it have been able to detect the potential issue anyway) and told to go to one of the diagnostic imaging companies later that day, and get the scan originally requested.

I found the whole experience was extremely frustrating and completely unnecessary. All that needed to happen was for someone to have some sort of idea of logistical management and common sense strategies and not simply treat patients on a first come first serve basis. A patient needing a scan could have been sent to get that done rather whilst another patient was having a sling fitted etc. The fact that the scan I needed was to rule out or confirm a potentially life threatening issue seemed completely irrelevant to the staff as I felt I was ignored as were the rest of the people in the waiting area.

In my opinion, the term fast track implies that the cases are dealt with faster, as they are the more obvious 'simpler' cases that have a straightforward treatment option/pathway and I feel common sense dictates that they can be organised to make the most efficient use of the available staff and facilities. Based on my experience, that certainly was not the case this time.