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Extremely bad communication

Posted By whispercc73

"Extremely bad communication"

About: Royal Perth Hospital / Orthopaedic Surgical & Trauma & Spinal Care Ward 3H/5G

(as a relative),

My partner broke their leg and was in extreme pain there was no ward available, the pain medication took ages to come. We were told that they would need surgery and they would do it on a weekend morning, until now nothing. In my experience, on weekends it feels like there is no care for patients as staff is low. I have lived in other parts of Australia and overseas and this has been the worst experience I've seen.  

At the time of writing this story we had been waiting for surgery since the morning my partner was told they would go through surgery so they had been fasting for 24 hours, at the end of the day after I asked over and over again we finally discovered that they won't.

I don't understand why the surgical unit didn't communicate this to the ward my partner is in and just left them hungry and in pain for over 24hours.

In my opinion, the health system here is failing not only with lack of staff but lack of communication, empathy and care.

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Responses

Response from Ben Noteboom, Executive Director, Royal Perth Bentley Group 5 months ago
Ben Noteboom
Executive Director,
Royal Perth Bentley Group

Submitted on 14/11/2023 at 12:35 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:14 PM

picture of Ben Noteboom

Dear whispercc73

I was sorry to read about the delay to your partner’s surgery and acknowledge the frustration and distress you are both currently experiencing.

Although we do everything possible to avoid deferring or cancelling surgery, unfortunately at times more urgent emergency procedures sometimes displace other emergency surgical cases. I sincerely apologise if this was not communicated to your partner adequately, and that they were left with unmanaged pain and fasted for 24 hours. I assure you this is not the standard of care that is expected at the Royal Perth Bentley Group.

We are committed to providing the highest quality of health care we can offer for our patients, and I would like to apologise that in this instance this was not your partner’s experience.

If your partner would like their particular case investigated further, I would encourage you to contact our Consumer Engagement Unit on (08) 9224 1637, 8am to 4pm or email RPBG.feedback@health.wa.gov.au.

Thank you for sharing your story on Care Opinion and I wish your partner all the best for their surgery and recovery.

Kind regards

Ben Noteboom

A/Executive Director

Royal Perth Bentley Group

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