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My young child's ear pain

Posted By capricornusqt68

"My young child's ear pain"

About: Kerang Hospital / Urgent Care Centre

(as a parent/guardian),

My young child had been having fevers and crying and screaming in pain about their ear.

The nurse had a quick look in both their ears, then got called away. We were then told we could go sit outside or do something and the nurse will call me when they become available. Over an hr later the nurse called and said they couldn’t see anything wrong with my child’s ear and if I were to take my child back the only thing they could do would be to give them pain relief.

I never took my child back up.

2 days later I took my child to see a dr who noticed straight away that my child has an ear infection that has popped as their ear is now leaking puss.

I feel the ear infection should have been picked up when I took my child to hospital, my child was clearly in pain screaming and crying. No one even bothered to call a dr.

Was not happy. In my opinion, I feel the service in Kerang has gone completely down hill.

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Responses

Response from Kellie Byron-Gray, Chief Executive Officer, Kerang District Health 4 months ago
Kellie Byron-Gray
Chief Executive Officer,
Kerang District Health

Submitted on 12/12/2023 at 11:07 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 13/12/2023 at 10:55 AM

picture of Kellie Byron-Gray

Dear capricornusqt68,

I apologize for the delay in responding to your important feedback. It is very unusual for someone in our team to not respond in a timely manner.

I am really sorry that you had a negative experience in our facility with your young child. It is pleasing to see that you followed up with a local GP and got a diagnosis and appropriate treatment within the next 48 hours.

I would encourage you to ring our hospital on 03 5450 9200 and ask to speak with either myself or the Director of Clinical Services. Either one of us would be happy to have a further conversation with you at a time that is convenient. Alternatively, you are welcome to contact me via the following email address - contact@kdh.org.au.

In the meantime, we will review your child's presentation so we can better understand the situation and seek some key learnings.

It is important for our staff to both; celebrate the great work we do everyday, and also spend time to review and reflect on areas that may require some tweaking. Therefore, your feedback is really valuable. I thank you for taking the time to provide it.

Kind regards,

Kellie

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Response from Director of Clinical Services , Executive, Kerang District Health 4 months ago
Kerang District Health

Submitted on 13/12/2023 at 2:42 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 3:13 PM

Dear capricornusqt68,

Apologies again for your experience, when you were caring for a child in pain, and I can understand your frustrations with the communication and support.

I have investigated your feedback and can assure you that you were seen by an experienced Nurse Practitioner who has the capacity to contact a doctor if concerned, or prescribe medications, but felt at that stage, pain relief was the most appropriate course of action. Unfortunately, you did wait for a period of time due to another life-threatening illness with another patient that the Nurse Practitioner was called away to attend.

I acknowledge we can improve our communication to ensure everyone has an understanding of the length of time they may be required to wait and a clear plan on leaving our service.

thank you for taking the time to raise your concern and please feel free to contact me for any further concerns,

Regards,

Katrina Sparrow

Director of Clinical Services

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