"My on-going spider bite hospital experience"

I was in St George Public hospital as a private patient after being admitted through the emergency department for 8 spider bites.

I have severe inflammation in my whole left arm and across and down the back of my neck.

The inflammation has spread 70 percent more since being admitted and I am in severe pain.

It took 2.5 hours after notifying emergency staff of the spider bites before I was seen. The emergency department didn't seem busy just it seemed a lack of staff.

The nurse I saw in triage was fantastic. She was genuinely concerned and treated me well.

A male nurse marked the size of the swelling around the wounds and I was admitted to the public hospital as a private patient.

The staff have been really amazing but very busy. Inconsistent dosage of pain relief has been a cycle of pain relief and endone withdrawals due to the wrong pain relief schedule and staff availability.

I had been there for 5 days and my condition had worsened. The inflammation has now overtaken my whole left arm from one bite there and worked its way down from the neck to the back of the throat from 7 bites there.

The doctor has scheduled me for ultra sound and surgery three times and then bumped me due to lack of staff in that department.

I haven’t been able to do a number 2 for a week and am severely constipated. The last three days I have asked the nurses to have an enema of sought charted by the doctor to get relief without answer.

There is a private St George Hospital that may be able to improve my condition with likely available resources a few meters away from me.

I regret agreeing being treated as a private patient in this public hospital as I only did so to financially assist the hospital with my care. The reality I think is that I may pay private hospital costs through my insurance but I am still only getting a seemingly publicly underfunded service.

The staff here in the public hospital have been great and I feel are under resourced. They have been very apologetic at times too.

I just cannot continue to go through the doses and withdrawals of S8 medication as I require a higher dose to level out again and I require the relief of the swelling around my arm and especially my neck before it spreads to my airways.

Communication with the doctors are rare and I have received no response to the messages I have asked to be forwarded to them through the nurses.

My situation such as pain and swelling at St George Public Hospital from the spider bites got worse and so I requested a transfer to a private hospital. Both my arms now have limited function so I will make this update brief.

I requested my blood stained bed sheets that have not been changed for a week. This request was ignored so I removed the sheets whilst in great pain and sat on the chair until they were replaced.

Surgery was not possible due to no staff to do the ultrasound sound the surgeons require before surgery so I organised a friend to organise to take me to a private imaging centre and got the required ultrasound and waited for the report and images so there would be no further delay in the surgery back at St George Public Hospital.

Surgery has been postponed twice and has now been cancelled on the spider bite on my elbow.

The bites on my neck one surgeon said not required as the wounds are draining normally and surgery will be evasively unnecessary now I am told a couple hours later I need the surgery.

I recall an intruder recently entered the room I shared with an elderly patient and tried to steal my bag and the other patient’s walking cane and their bag before I woke up and caught them and removed the items from them and escorted them out of the room in front of 4 staff members who heard and saw the incident but did not seem to intervene or report the matter. The apparent intruder then walked towards the rooms opposite.

The nurse assistance response takes up to an hour to respond to. This delay is causing un-necessary pain and the requiring of the flushing or replacing of the drip line due to blood clots.

Asked for pillow to support my cast arm. Told no spare pillows in ward. Using my soft tracksuite pants.

I believe the room is filthy and not wiped with food rubbish around my bed, room never cleaned.

I’ll be insisting a transfer to a private hospital as requested as a Private Patient.

I simply do not feel safe in this hospital.

I really wanted to tell you more good news than bad news but unfortunately for me who is so affected by what I feel is the lack of proper care, this is my reality.

The feedback email to the hospital is a bad link and appreciate this opportunity to tell my story.