"Paediatric care"

We took my toddler child to SJOG Midland ED recently, on the advice of our GP following an appointment. We were concerned about their work of breathing. We had a letter from the GP with my child’s stats and obs.

When we got to ED there was no one to ask why we were there or how concerned we were. Instead we just had to wait. And wait. And wait. We took a ticket like at a deli counter and waited for triage. The whole time I was unsure if I should be speaking up or pushing ahead in the queue or demanding to be seen sooner. I am not that type of person - but how am I meant to know how concerning breathing issues are, that is why I came to seed a doctor.

When we were eventually triaged we were taken through within minutes. I am just so grateful nothing terrible happened while we were waiting.

The nurses we saw were lovely, but it was just so busy and no beds available. Initially we were seen on a chair, then sent back to ED to wait for a bed.

Once we got taken through my child was started on treatment and obs. However we were told many times that there was no room in pediatrics. While pediatric doctors did eventually come see us, it was hard being in the general ED area for so long. My partner couldn't stay the whole time overnight - I couldn't go to the toilet without having to ask staff to watch my child, whereas in paeds I would have had a toilet in the same room.

It took us 19 hours to get a room in paeds. It took a few hours to get a cot. People kept asking me why my child wasn't sleeping, one nurse even said my child must be cold and tried to put an adult sized blanket inside the cot with them.

Overnight there was a miscommunication about my child’s treatment plan and it was handled terribly. My child was meant to have ventolin stretched to 3 hourly. We saw the team last around midnight who told us this plan. I attempted to doze during the night, and slept for a grand total of 40 minutes, I saw nurses come in regularly to check on my child. I assumed they were giving them the ventolin. They did not. When there was a shift change around 6 hours later, the new nurse went back to doing every 20 mins. I questioned this - and overheard the head nurse talking about how my child hadnt had any ventolin overnight since 11pm. They had to go back to the start of the treatment plan, which meant an extra day in hospital. No one spoke to me about this to tell me what had happened and why my child didn't get the ventolin over night.

When we were eventually moved up to the ward we were told that only one parent could accompany my child because it was a respiratory condition. When I went up to the ward they told me this wasn't the case - my partner could have stayed but they had already left.

Later, when we finally got to paeds, the nurse was telling me they're not trained in babies in general ED, that we should have been in paeds to keep a proper eye on my child, that we can't expect them to know everything about babies, but also that I should have made sure it was given to my child over night. I told the nurse it is not up to me to make sure the doctors and nurses are doing their jobs. Shouldn't it be written down what the plan is? I recall the nurse said yes, it should but it doesn't always happen. I believe it was made to feel as though it was my fault. I was exhausted, worried, hadn't slept, and should not have been made to feel this way.

Later, we started discussing plans for discharge. The paeds team told us the next lot of ventolin was due in 3 hours, not to give it until a doctor had seen my child as they needed to do obs before the meds, and then we could be discharged. The doctor wasn't there in time for that, and we began to worry that if we waited for the doctor it would get pushed out again and we would have to start again or at least go back a step in the plan. When the doctor did arrive, I felt they were so dismissive and barely checked my child out.

I wasn't given discharge notes when we left as they weren't ready. I was told they would be emailed to me. Over a month later I had to call to follow up to get them.

Overall it was a disappointing and scary experience. We lost a lot of trust in the treating team. It seemed the communication was terrible. While many of the nurses were lovely it was obvious to me that they were understaffed and incredibly busy, and that things were seemingly slipping through.