"Local clinician on call after hours refused to see my partner"

Below is the letter I wrote to the clinician and a copy was also sent to the Alpine Health Myrtleford CEO. I received an initial reply from the hospital but have not heard outcome post the hospital’s meeting with the clinician.

Dear clinician,

I wanted to clarify a concern I have regarding your refusal to come into the emergency department at Myrtleford Hospital on a weekend afternoon.

Around lunch time my partner experienced an acute onset of short term memory loss. This had never happened before and was very alarming to me as my partner has a very strong family history of stroke.

I put them in the car and drove to Myrtleford outpatients. The nurse who answered the door was very polite but their first question after I explained my partner’s event was "are they a Standish Street patient”. I answered no as we see another clinician. The nurse replied by saying they doubted the doctor would attend as we were not patients of Standish Street.

The nurse said they would ring the clinician and discuss the situation. My partner remained in the car as this was going on.

The nurse came back shortly after and apologized, I recall stating the clinician refused to come in and would only come in if it was urgent like a chest pain. I was stunned as I believe an acute neurological event is an urgent presentation. Actually during my career as a critical care clinician I worked on the National awareness program for potential stroke presentation....time critical / brain attack, etc. The time critical aspect is why I immediately put my partner in the car and drove to the nearest emergency department.

I drove to another health service, planning to ring for ambulance assistance if my partner deteriorated on the way. On arrival at the emergency I was so very relieved, as my partner received prompt care from the time of triage. They were triaged as stroke and spent two days in hospital. We are now in the process of further investigations as their diagnosis is unconfirmed. However, the staff kept reinforcing to my partner and I my actions were absolutely correct in seeking medical review as early as possible.

My partner and I are long term residents of the area and have and continue to contribute to this community. It is very disappointing to think when we need help from our services we are apparently refused based on the clinician we choose to use and not on our urgent need.

Perhaps the clinician has a different interpretation of events, and I would appreciate an explanation please.

Yours Sincerely,

Rural Community Member