"Being sent away from emergency with severe ankle injury"

My spouse presented to South Hedland Health Campus recently after stepping back off their ute onto uneven ground and hearing a series of snaps and falling to the ground. I drove them to emergency and we were seen quite quickly and sent off to get an xray. My spouse’s xray was looked over by the doctor and no breaks were seen. They were told to then go get an ultrasound on their ankle and was told not to expect to be seen until after Christmas as there were no staff doing ultrasounds.

My spouse was given a moonboot and crutches and sent off out the door.

I collected them and we went home. Both my spouse and I spent that day calling medical imaging over and over with no answer. Believing what we were told by the medical staff in Emergency I began calling sonographers in Perth to try get a booking and managed to get in on a certain date.

We already had flights booked for my spouse and kids, so we changed to that morning’s flight at our own expense.

My spouse got an ultrasound done and was told they had snapped all anterior tendons on their right ankle, ruptured all others except their Achilles. My spouse made a booking with a doctor, organised an MRI, found a surgeon themselves and went in for major ankle surgery having 4x tendons reattached, 3x bone fragments removed and ruptures repaired. All without help from the South Hedland Health Campus Emergency Department who we put our trust in.

10days after our visit to Emergency my spouse received a call from a representative from the hospital who was concerned after reviewing my spouse’s records. They stated that my spouse had a major ankle injury and should be in emergency care and surgery. My spouse related their experience and was told that the ultrasound clinic was open and we were told the incorrect thing from the medical staff at emergency and they should have answered and my spouse should have been in care for their injury and apologized.

Now my spouse is back in Hedland I am now concerned about after surgery rehabilitation care, where are we meant to get their stitches taken out? What are we meant to do? I hope that there is someone who can help and we can get reimbursed for our costs for what I feel should have been done in Emergency.