"Informed decisions and communication"

To the Manger of Complaints and Enquires

It is with regret I am forced to write to you about an incident that happened recently.

I am disabled however try to make as many allowances as possible for those that I have to deal with around me, and purposefully try to put other's indecisions and limited knowledge on disability before my needs with polite replies and carefully worded sentences.

To put that into perspective, I suffer everyday with limited mobility, PTSD, and Asperger’s however I will make a lot of allowances to put others needs before my own to gain services that are a necessity for my health.

I attended an appointment at Armadale Dental Hospital, this is an arduous task for me both physically and emotionally, so I had taken some effort to prepare.

There were many obstacles to attend with including the long walk to the Dentist, Covid etc. I arrived ½ an hour early as requested and while I waited, I heard a number of distressed carers and patients plead their case to the reception on needing treatment and how that would or could be delivered. While these malaise played out my appointment was pushed back by another ½ hour, I tried to meditate myself to try and keep my panic attacks at bay, but it was becoming more difficult and waiting for the ensuing tooth to be extracted that day was onerous.

I know my appointment was for 40min to allow time for the extraction however I only had 10min left when I was shown to the room, being Asperger’s I was concerned about the time, and needed not to be rushed. After some discussion it was decided to not extract that day and to rebook and to have a clean prior. The extraction would be booked after the clean or until I could not bear the pain anymore.

Let me say all of your staff I dealt with were polite and were professional. What let the whole process down was Policies you have on booking, appointment times, lack of information to the patient on their options, lack of options, no information or clear follow through from Teeth care, to major work to options of Root Canal, extraction, dentures, caps etc. There is no clear pathway to someone’s health in dental care. A tooth may be removed but the dentist is not aware how long a denture or appointments will be (could be 2 years or more). This is a great concern to people loosing front teeth or lots of teeth.

In my opinion, it is not an ‘Informed Decision’. I believe a patient cannot make an informed decision without fully understanding the journey they will be on from start to finish. I feel missing teeth are not just a Health Issue physically but mentally, in my experience missing teeth that people you meet will have a preconceived view of you as a person – poor, unkempt, stupid, repulsed by your looks etc. This seemingly lack of transparency in the Dental Clinic on a timeline of when work will be done just adds to one’s anxiety when attending a dentist. I recall staff in reception are constantly saying sorry for the 1 to 2 year wait list. I watched as one person was turned away because as I understand it, they were 15min late (I believe due to the parking issues at Armadale Hospital) even though I heard cancellations being made that day (they did not offer for them to wait) they said it was policy to cancel the patient’s appointment and they would be put back on a waiting list.

When I spoke to the staff member about making another appointment that’s when it started again about long delays, I asked them the important questions about how the procedures would follow and like the Dentist they didn’t know either. The staff member had to ask the manager, I asked if it could be at a private dentist due to the difficulty, I had getting to their rooms, but I recall the staff member said they couldn’t answer that. I believe the questions I were asking were reasonable – When the tooth is extracted how long until a denture could be made, they couldn’t answer this nor the manager. There was so much going on and having to deal with so many staff dealing with what I believe were simple questions that just didn’t know the answers. I left with an appointment time and date I explained I couldn’t confirm until I got home and looked at my calendar and asked them if it’s not suitable would they put me on a cancelation list as I did not want to be bumped down back onto a 2 year wait list but had to check my other appointments before I committed, I did not get a definitive answer.

Which leads me onto another issue.

When I got home, I was exhausted and realised my health was worse than I had thought. I have not left my home much in many years (I don’t even go shopping everything including appointments is online). I collapsed at home it had been too much physically for me to walk that distance. So I rang the Perth Dental Hospital to see if there were any other options.

I rang your general number 9313 0552 which then put me through to 9313 0555 when I asked to speak to someone in Disability and Inclusion regarding Dental Treatment. It was when I first called and the staff member on the General Enquires call I felt was aggressive, seemingly threatened me, used rude language (Retard) and hung up on me 4 times.

When I rang, they asked me to repeat myself 3 times, I was not sure if they didn’t understand my request to speak to someone involved in Disability and Inclusion or I was speaking too fast or not loud enough. As I am partially deaf it’s hard for me to judge. I told them I was disabled, but they would not let me get a word in and told me I was yelling at them and they didn’t have to put up with that and I recall they said don’t talk to me like I am a retard. I believe I never swore, raised my voice, nor spoke down to them, they took offense to my tone which is the way I speak because of Autism. I tried to explain this to them but I recall they yelled and gave me lectures and hung up 3 times I tried. I recall they also told me if that’s the way you normally speak you are not going to get far in life! I tried to ask to speak to their manager I constantly used the word please, but I felt they were in a rage, I asked for their name, but they refused. This left me no avenue to seek the information I needed nor help.

Being disabled I have been called all sorts of things, Oxygen Thief, burden on society, should have been drowned at birth etc. Never would I ever refer to another person as a Retard and found the fact they had used this term to describe how they felt I was treating them, I believe is so insulting. I have not heard that word in decades. Which I feel gives us an insight into their seemingly lack of knowledge and understanding of those less fortunate than themselves.

What if they had a person with a voice box, or CP, limited verbal communication, etc is it OK for them to take offence at their tone? I rang the Ministers office as I felt I had no way of getting through to anyone at the Dental Department with them on switch. I asked if they could ring them and try and make them understand or at least get their name so their manager could retrain them in Disabilities and how to assist people. The minister’s statement to me (and I believe they were shocked at what the staff member had just said to me) was the staff member probably wouldn’t give their name to the minister either. Even though there is no Legislation, nor policy preventing staff from giving their name it would only be an in-house decision however then a reference to the call should be given out if there is an issue.

I am extremely tolerant and put up with many issues every day. I feel their behaviour was just one that was way over the top and prevented me from moving on and enquiring about services that may assist.

Could you please be part of the solution to prevent this behaviour continuing and affecting a person as much as it did me (the staff member had me in tears) a discussion in better protocol and training on the General Enquiries desk, so others don’t have to endure it.

Regards 

Reception