"Treatment of infection"

I was discharged from the cardiology ward with an infection in the site of the IV. The nurse discharging me was concerned and told me I couldn’t go home until the doctor checked the wound, because they thought it looked infected. I told the nurse it was very painful. The doctor was called, and came in and glanced at the wound and I recall they said that I’ll be fine.

Apparently neither the nurse or the doctor recorded this in their notes. The wound was covered. I was not given a discharge summary. I left the hospital. My arm was hurting and I took Panadol every 4 - 6 hours. The next day the pain was more intense. I decided that I needed to go to an after hours clinic, and was prescribed antibiotics and strong pain killer. This gp told me that I should go back to the hospital since they had failed to treat the infection. I assumed the antibiotics would kick in and I would start to feel better. However over the next two days the pain got very intense despite the extra strong pain medication. When I peeled back the wound cover, pus burst out of the site, and I was feeling terribly unwell.

I presented to the hospital emergency department. I provided them with my history of the treatment at the hospital, and the procedure which I had had in the first place. They admitted me straightway and sent me back to the cardiology ward. I had an 8cm clot and thombolitus - an infection in the vein. I remained in hospital for several days being treated for the infection. During this time, my cardiologist was not informed that I had been readmitted. I was assigned to the care of a physician. I am surprised with the continued number of errors that I feel were made concerning my care. I have an underlying health condition which in itself increases the risk of infection. There seems to be a concerning lack of communication between different departments and clearly I feel mistakes are being made by the discharge nurse who didn’t record their concerns about the infection; the resident doctor who very dismissively assessed the infection before saying I was fine to be discharged; the emergency department who were given all the information and didn’t communicate back to the original cardiologist.

I followed up with the hospital safety and compliance officer and asked for feedback on the investigation. I heard nothing back from this process. After several months, I emailed saying I was following up on the investigation. I was contacted by the safety compliance officer. I was told the investigation had not found any fault in the process and procedures with those involved in my care at the hospital.

Furtherance I believe the people involved had not made any notes about their suspicions of infection, and both the nurse and the doctor had no recall of the event. The resident doctor has moved on to another hospital. The chief executive and medical director at the time, were also no longer working at the hospital. I assumed this information provided to me was to suggest any further follow up was pointless. I remain very disappointed with the outcome. I do not believe this is a satisfactory response from the hospital.

I accept infection can occur with any procedure however I feel the many ignored signs and requests for clarification, are not acceptable. I believe the infection could have been treated before it became extremely complicated. I remained on antibiotics and blood thinners for several months after leaving the hospital.

The extended stay in hospital has affected holiday bookings, and personal leave from work. This has had a financial impact for me. I expected an apology for the series of errors and compensation for financial loss. Based on my experience, I would not return for treatment at this hospital in the future and I do not believe my concerns have been honestly investigated. I remain dissatisfied with the response from the hospital. Upon review, both the cardiologist and physical, urged me to formally lodge an incident report. This process is time consuming and stressful and in my opinion, the hospital does not seem particularly invested in providing a satisfactory outcome. Perhaps this account will provide some resolution?