"HCS disappointment"

Hi 👋🏼 We are a full time travelling family exploring the beauty of our own backyard. Originally from interstate, we left to travel full time.

Recently, we got lucky.

My partner slipped off a cliff at Bilung Pools, WA, 380km inland (SE) from Carnarvon, WA. they fell minimum 2.5m onto the rocks below. They shattered their right wrist (crushed the ends of their ulnar, radius, has a piece of floating bone from being chipped, all the top bones in their hands smashed and the nerve that controls 2.5 fingers are crushed resulting with permanent nerve damage. My partner is a carpenter by trade.

To our luck, a couple from Murchinson were at the pools. They had a satellite phone too! After contacting the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) we were advised my partner would be flown from Murchinson to Geraldton for treatment. However, based on the extent of the injuries there was discussion about flying my partner to Perth should they require extensive surgery/ies.

I towed the caravan 150km (2hr trip) along dirt, corrugated roads. We reached Murchinson, where my partner was given a green whistle and able to feel less pain. They had gone two hours with Panadol.

The RFDS landed in Murchinson to fly my partner to Geraldton. They landed and my partner was admitted to Geraldton. I wasn’t notified. I had no idea what was happening or where they were.

At this point, it’s evening, I was in Murchinson with the caravan, kids and doggo. The shire put us up for the night which we greatly appreciated. The emotional stress hadn’t fully sunk in at that point, and I hadn’t really stopped since my partner fell. Many tears were shed that day by all of us. On and off. It was a high stress situation. Watching your person, the love of your life fall off a cliff is something that you can’t unsee. We feel lucky that this is the severity of the situation. It could have been a lot worse.

That night my partner had been informed that Geraldton weren’t doing the surgery as they are a regional hospital and the injuries to my partner’s arm were extensive.

Another couple from Murchinson offered to tow the van the following day to Geraldton for us. The road from Murchinson to Geraldton is cast iron territory. This means major road trains and oversized trucks. I didn’t feel confident towing that far, on dirt/ corrugated roads, with the kids in the car. I wasn’t going to risk their lives.

My partner was released from Geraldton that day and instructed to find their own way to Perth for surgery in three days. My partner was released without pain meds as it seemed they were understaffed. And I believe they needed the ward my partner was on for a doctor- nurse function being held. I feel due to this reason, they rushed my partner out. I was able to organise the tow of the van so it worked out logistically. We love the Australian Travel Community. You can’t beat the help of genuine people.

However; we had questions re the Australian Health Care system.

1- Why did a hospital release someone when they were in that medical condition?

2- Why did they release my partner without pain meds for an injury so serious?

3- Why did they not clean out any wounds? Or give them antibiotics?

Being isolated from family, my partner didn’t have anyone there to advocate for them. I called the hospital to organise pain medication for my partner, sent the scripts through and I didn’t receive them until later in the evening when chemists were closed. My partner went overnight again with Panadol! More tears were shed and not much sleep was had. We felt let down by the system for the first time ever.

Do you want to know why I think my partner wasn’t able to be transferred to Perth for the procedure, why I believe my partner was told to make their own way there? Because, in my opinion, we are from interstate and not WA. Fancy that! Apparently, it seems to me Australia isn’t a whole. The segregation really became apparent to me and what is worse, I feel we are paying the price. We are suffering the consequences of what I believe is a messed up system.

Moving forward…

We made our way to Perth and took my partner to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Due to the apparent lack of communication within the Health Care System, the hospital didn’t know if my partner needed day surgery or if they were required for short stay. My partner was bumped further in the surgical line until this was sorted. It took a day to figure this out. At this point in time, my partner had been fasting and waited until the evening to find out that they were actually being bumped to the following day. My partner was offered a vegetarian sandwich for dinner and taken to short stay. Frustration was high again at this point in time. Stress was even higher. The feeling of isolation and vulnerability we felt in that situation was aided by what I feel is the incompetence of the HCS. Imagine if an infection was obtained after leaving Geraldton Regional Hospital? What would happen if the infection lead to sepsis and ultimately death? Do you understand the point I’m trying to emphasise here?

I feel there is a level of neglect evident!

Bringing us to the following day, once the hospital wards re-spoke, it was realised my partner requires a specialist for their surgery and this specialist didn’t work for another two days. This means, my partner’s clogging up the system, using a bed someone else could be in, due to limited communication. Someone else’s surgery has now possibly been bumped. In my opinion, the ripple effect is huge.

Bringing us forward to surgery day. This marks one week from the accident. My partner has been operated on one week after their accident.

I feel it’s not good enough.

There’s more to this story but I only have 1000 words.