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"Poor doctor treatment"

About: Northam Health Service / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

Mid-last year, my doctor sent me to Northam Hospital as I was coughing uncontrollably and struggling to catch my breath and had extreme pain in my left lower rib, they had given me pain killers before I left, my cough was not a loud booming cough, when I breathed out I would cough.

Waiting in the ED at Northam on my own, a doctor approached me and I recall they said, I haven't seen you cough once since you got here and asked why I was there, I relayed the coughing and the sore ribs, I mentioned that I had a small cough on and off for about 8 months, came and went and had gotten bad that day, I was struggling to form a sentence. I felt the doctor was clearly annoyed and seemingly sarcastic, they said your doctor has asked for a scan to be done, they all went home at 5 and would now have to be called back in, then the doc left.

Another doctor walked past me twice and said both times, I have not seen you cough once, making me feel completely humiliated and though I was hypercondric. I was not told if I was having a scan or not, I was then ushered in for a very rushed chest xray by a seemingly very agitated xray operator. After the scan, a nurse came up to me with a needle and pills, they went to jab me in the arm with the needle before I stopped them and asked what it was, I also had to ask twice what the pills were for, clearly it seemed to me I was still being treated as a hypercondric, I was given medication for heartburn/ indigestion and a liquid to help my sore throat, I didn't have a sore throat. My scan came back and a third doctor said there's nothing on your scan, could be my bowel was high on the left and was pushing on my diaphragm and into my lung possibly making me cough, possibly broken rib or damaged muscle between the rib, follow up with your GP and sent me home with Nurofen and indigestion tablets.

Not wanting to go back to ED being made to think theres nothing wrong with me, 24 hours later I was admitted to another hospital’s ED, same symptoms, CT chest only scan revealed I had blood clotts in both lungs and a portion of my left lung had died, was put on blood thinners and sent home, two weeks later I was sent for another full body CT scan at Northam Hospital by my doctor, as I was experiencing abdominal issues, I was contacted by my doctor and the Northam radiologist to go immediately to the ED. After waiting many hours I was told I had a large mass on my left ovary. A few months later I was told I have terminal ovarian cancer.

Of all the patient's in the Northam ED on that night mid-last year, I feel I needed help the most, I was made to feel like a total idiot, hypercondric and I was wasting their time. Since that night, I have not had any issues with the Doctors or Nursing staff at Northam.

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Responses

Response from Rachele Ferrari, Regional Director, Wheatbelt, WA Country Health, Wheatbelt 11 months ago
Rachele Ferrari
Regional Director, Wheatbelt,
WA Country Health, Wheatbelt
Submitted on 26/05/2023 at 8:50 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 8:50 AM


picture of Rachele Ferrari

Dear WheatbeltPatient,

Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us about your experience at the Northam Hospital Emergency Department.

Please accept my sincere apologies for how you were made to feel. I am saddened and concerned to read that you felt humiliated and felt as if you were being treated like a hypochondriac when you were in our care. Everyone in our community should feel as though they can attend the Emergency Department and receive compassionate and high-quality care.

We know that communication and empathy are key elements in building positive relationships and trust with our patients and their families. Your feedback provides us with valuable information about improvements that we can make and will be discussed by the Northam Hospital management team, where we will highlight the importance of providing person-centred care and bringing our organisational values to life.

I would like to reassure you that I am taking your concerns seriously and would like to invite you to meet with our Operations Manager and Medical Director so that we can learn more about what happened. To enable me to do this, I would appreciate it if you could contact Mr Trenton Greive, the Operations Manager for Western Wheatbelt located at Northam Health Service. Mr Greive can be contacted on (08) 9690 1315.

I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that we have a process in place for patients and their families and carers to escalate any concerns they might have about the healthcare they are receiving. The Aishwarya’s Call and Response Early (CARE) call process enables people to request urgent assistance when they are concerned about their health and feel that their healthcare team has not fully recognised their changing health condition. When a CARE Call is made, a senior staff member listens to the concerns of the person making the CARE Call and makes a full assessment of the patient’s situation. The senior staff member then liaises with the treating medical team and other health care providers as required. The Aishwarya’s CARE call phone number is 1800 994 063 and all calls are very welcome. If you would like further information about Aishwarya’s CARE Call, please visit the WACHS Website at: WA Country Health Service - Aishwarya’s CARE Call

I am glad to read that since that night you have had no further issues with staff at the Northam Hospital.

Thank you, again, for taking the time to share your story and I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely

Rachele Ferrari

Regional Director - Wheatbelt

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