"Cellulitis admission"

I arrived at Box Hill ED around midnight.

Having had Cellulitis before 3 times, I had a fair idea of what could happen. When I arrived at the Triage Desk I told the nurse that I had Cellulitis and a little of my history. They had a look confirmed the diagnosis, put a canular in and gave me one Endone tablet and then said wait over there. During the night while waiting I told this nurse I was feeling worse at least 4 times, I recall their response was that I just need to wait my turn.

As the night progressed so did my being unwell.

Around 7 hours later I went to the new Triage Nurse saying that I could no longer stand the pain. They then got me a bed in ED. Not long after that I saw a Dr in ED who I recall said, do I realise how sick I am? I said I have a fair idea as I have had Cellulitis 3 previous times. The Dr then gave antibiotics IV an I waited for a bed where I stayed for 3 and half weeks. On this admission to Box Hill I believe I nearly died because of my condition. I do understand that you have to be given priority when you arrive but I do think people need to be reassessed. I don't want the same to happen to others. I am very aware that the ED is busy, however in this instance I feel the wrong decision was made by the triage nurse when I arrived in the first instance.

While on the ward I had the medical team, Chronic Pain team and the infectious disease team. They were all good but it would have been better if they all communicated with me. This was done in the beginning but did not continue well.

I went to ICU for a few hours for more treatment. At the time of writing this, it has been several weeks since the episode and I am still not fully recovered. I have had to work really hard to get a copy of my discharge summary which I feel is not correct in many parts, example the number of days I was in the hospital was over 20 days and the D.S. says 12 days. It also says things like I did not sit out of bed and I did that at least 5 times, not for long but I tried. Due to the seriousness of the Cellulitis I now carry around antibiotics and my Discharge Summary. The care on the ward was as good as it could be due to staffing. The care while waiting in ED was extremely poor.

At this time I can not afford to take the chance on returning to Box Hill Hospital if this happens again as I feel it may well cost my life. I was discharged to Rehab. I would like people to know about this as something needs to improve in the system. Perhaps people that have waited a long time in the waiting area need to be reassessed every few hours. My co morbidity were looked after well.