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My elderly parent Badly broke wrist and went to ED

Posted By handsetrc35

"My elderly parent Badly broke wrist and went to ED"

About: Bunbury Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

We had lovely Nurse Practician attending, X-ray staff excellent, two extremely kind Doctors, then another  Doctor who I found was rude and disrespectful to my parent needs and pain/discomfort. When this Doctor attended all Nursing Staff seemed to stay clear so I assumed they were a Senior Doctor. We were told we were waiting a procedure but they changed this causing a lot of distress to my parent and further injury to arm.

My parent felt they had to do what this doctor said.

I believe this is not good enough for our Elderly Parents to feel like this.

My parent has since had to have their wrist operated and to set it correctly and put plate put in as it wasn’t done after the third terrible attempt. We did have two amazing Doctors that I felt really cared and didn’t want to cause any more trauma but sadly, I understand, the third over ruled them. I feel this needs to be stopped as my parent has been traumatized it all.

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Responses

Response from Stephen Hartwig, Head of Department, Emergency Medicine, Bunbury Hospital, WACHS South West 17 months ago
Stephen Hartwig
Head of Department, Emergency Medicine, Bunbury Hospital,
WACHS South West

Lead the team of Emergency Medicine doctors.

Submitted on 25/11/2022 at 4:00 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 4:00 PM

Dear handsetrc35,

I am so sorry to hear that your parent was not treated with respect and that they have been left feeling traumatised after coming to Bunbury Hospital with a broken wrist.

I recognise that changes in care plans can cause additional distress and I am sorry for this. In relation to your parent’s fracture, it is not uncommon that operations are required after an initial fracture manipulation, as in the case of many fractures it’s unclear whether the fracture will ‘hold’ in a satisfactory position with manipulation. We reduce fractures in the Emergency Department to reduce the stretch on nerves and tendons, and because many of the fractures that we manipulate will not require subsequent operation. I am sorry if this was not adequately explained to your parent and especially that staff were rude.

I would like look into the circumstances of your visit to provide more specific feedback and improve the care we provide, so I would be very grateful if you could contact the Consumer Feedback team on 08-67536537 or email swfeedback@health.wa.gov.au.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us and for your kind words about the Nurse Practitioner, the X-ray staff and two kind Doctors.

I do hope that your parent is recovering well.

Yours sincerely

Dr Steve Hartwig

HOD

Emergency Medicine

Bunbury Hospital

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Response from Stephen Hartwig, Head of Department, Emergency Medicine, Bunbury Hospital, WACHS South West 15 months ago
Stephen Hartwig
Head of Department, Emergency Medicine, Bunbury Hospital,
WACHS South West

Lead the team of Emergency Medicine doctors.

Submitted on 16/01/2023 at 2:56 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 3:58 PM

Dear handsetrc35,

I hope that you and family had a very safe and happy holiday period and that your parent is now recovering well. I know that the end of year is a very busy time for us all so I wanted to invite you to make contact with us once more as we don’t seem to have heard from you yet.

I would very much like the opportunity to review what has happened for your parent, it is important to us to ensure that your parent is going better now, but also to be able to identify any areas where we can improve.

If you feel comfortable to contact the Consumer Feedback Coordinator on 08 6753 6537 or by email on swfeedback@health.wa.gov.au they can arrange a time so that we can discuss what’s happened in more detail.

I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Kind Regards

Dr Steve Hartwig

HOD Emergency Medicine

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