"Rehabilitation services"

I write this as both a warning to others and in an urgent and earnest desire to see something done for future occasions when my spouse is hospitalized, which I feel is almost inevitable, given the apparent lack of ongoing treatment this system provides. The recent glossy print adverts and radio segments tell us all that keeping people on their feet as they age is vital. These also acknowledge that falls in the community requiring hospitalization have increased by 40% in five years.

Here is why!

I took my spouse to Fiona Stanley emergency recently after they fell in our bedroom. This isn't the first time they have fallen. It's not the second, third, fourth or even eighth time in the last six month. Sometimes my spouse has fallen multiple times in a single day. Some of these falls have resulted in extremely serious complications requiring lengthy treatment. On this occasion, as per usual my spouse was assessed and admitted. Numerous scans and tests later (the same each time) I was contacted by a doctor on the phone, to repeat the story I had already given to multiple consultants in Emergency. Does anyone listen? I feel, apparently not. By the way I was contacted twice by phone to discuss my spouse’s needs and for my take on events. I expressed myself clearly and unequivocally: under no circumstances did I feel it was safe to discharge my spouse as they were at extreme risk of a repeat fall. I explained clearly that multiple failed discharges had simply resulted in my spouse injuring themselves again and again, and again. Each time they returned to hospital and a short stint in a medical ward was followed by at home physio. I explained this was not working and longer-term intense physio and reference to a physician specialist was needed for them to regain strength and confidence. I knew Fiona Stanley had a new rehab facility (a doctor told me) and asked my spouse to be transferred there at the very least or given they had private insurance, that my spouse get transferred to a private health service. I was assured that Fiona Stanley rehab was excellent but getting my spouse in ...would be difficult. I was told options would be examined and I would be contacted once a plan was in place. I was not contacted.

The next I heard was from my frantic spouse the next morning saying there were four people in their room packing my spouse’s things and saying they were being transferred to Fremantle Hospital. Zero consultation with anybody.

My spouse lasted two days in that place. Staff that seemingly didn't know the common names of prescription drugs but assumed similar ones did the same things. Staff that say no when asked for a hot drink to ease pain and sleeplessness. I recall paint peeling off walls, windows so filthy I could hardly see through them. Food that, in my opinion, is the same as served in prisons apparently. And of course, my spouse was discharged without warning, again with no consultation with me or addressing concerns about ongoing falls or any ongoing support.

All in all, the whole system has let my spouse down badly in my opinion and the stay on your feet message is just a joke. And here is why.

Reading the above you have probably assumed my spouse was elderly, infirm and suffering from age related issues. Wrong, my spouse is in their early sixties. You see, I believe the 'system' is not geared to help longer rehab for someone like my spouse with arthritic conditions...they don’t fit the profile. So, my spouse can't access the long-term rehab at Fiona Stanley because they aren’t over sixty-five or of aboriginal descent it seems. Just no way can this system help you if you don't fit into a particular box. Just shuffle my spouse off to Freo then discharge, again.

Why can't my spouse get proper treatment because they are not yet sixty-five? Why is my spouse’s ethnicity a factor in their care options?

Moreover, why does it seem that the medical people we saw think repeating the same thing over and over expecting change is anything other than insanity? I get the system is stressed and nurses etc are overworked. I also understand complex treatments sometimes get bundled to the back of the queue but that is not my spouse's fault.

So fix it.