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Prescription experience for back pain

Posted By charliekr68

"Prescription experience for back pain"

About: Apollo Bay Hospital / Urgent Care Unit & Acute ward

(as the patient),

A few years back I had really hurt my back. I could not call an ambulance as I didn't know where I was. After going to doctors they told me the doctor was at the hospital. I went to the hospital and told me to go back to doctors as the doctor was leaving the hospital.  I said I could not continue driving around and please call an ambulance and take me to another hospital as the pain was 10/10.

After a few hours of giving me pain relief a few times and asking if it was better, which it was not, just tired, they informed me they could not give me any pain relief to take home and the chemist was closing soon so I will need to leave and get the meds before it closes. They gave me the script and off I went with no assistance (full of drugs). I do not remember the trip to the chemist or the trip home about 40min away. They prescribed valium and endone so I don't remember much of the week. I would wake up sore back so take something and pass out for hours. After a week my spouse came home and took me straight to emergency ward (different hospital) as I was still in 10/10 pain. I told my story to the doctor and I believe they were shocked at what I was prescribed and why they let me leave the hospital with no care. They put me on panadene fort and the next day I was walking around.

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Responses

Response from Sandy Chamberlin, CEO, Great Ocean Road Health 10 months ago
We have made a change
Sandy Chamberlin
CEO,
Great Ocean Road Health

Submitted on 14/06/2023 at 4:50 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 15/06/2023 at 9:04 AM

Dear charliekr68,

Thank you for submitting your comments to Care Opinion. I am sorry to hear about your experience with Great Ocean Road Health (formerly Otway Health) a few years ago.

I can see that you had difficulty accessing the doctor when you came to us, that the medication given to you was not effective and you had to travel to the pharmacy and then home unsupported.

We were aware that access to doctors locally was limited in the past. We now have a number of General Practitioners working in Apollo Bay across the week to complement the full time Nurse Practitioner based in the Urgent Care Unit. The General Practitioners are now located on-site at the Apollo Bay Medical Centre improving access for our community.

We have also a team of physiotherapists in Apollo Bay who have implemented an improved process for treatment of back pain. Following the Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care our patients can now expect to receive an in-depth physical and psychosocial assessment and discussion about the appropriate use of pain medications and the indications for imaging. The in-depth targeted assessment helps to build a clear picture of the cause of the pain and most importantly identify any concern for serious pathology. From there, our patients receive information about their condition to increase understanding and address concerns/expectations and to outline benefits/medicines/treatment options.

We will share your story with our doctors, nurses physiotherapists as well as our executive team. Your feedback is valuable and we appreciate the time taken to share it with us.

If you would like me to investigate what happened to you more fully please contact me at: enquiries.gorh@gorh.vic.gov.au

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chamberlin

CEO

Great Ocean Road Health

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