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Wound Care clinic closed again

Posted By Texacola

"Wound Care clinic closed again"

About: Dongara Eneabba Mingenew Health Service / Emergency Department

(as a service user),

The Wound Care Clinic has been shut down at the hospital in Dongara WA yet again, for at least the last two to three months. I have written previously about this service being shut down after they apparently ran out of some leftover Covid funding and then suddenly they found some funding to start it back up again. Life was good, or at least somewhat better, because we could make an appointment time to come in and get our wounds dressed. 

Now that the Wound Care clinic is closed down again we have been thrown back into the triage system of the Emergency Department and have to wait in the systems rotation to get our wounds dressed and sent on our merry way. I have had to wait up to 4.5 hours on occasion to wait my turn to get my wounds dressed and it's just not good enough.

This also isn't fair to the nurses who have to push through genuine medical emergencies and then fit wound dressings into their already packed day and have to learn specialised wound dressing techniques that most regular nurses aren't required to learn on regular wards as I found recently in a metropolitan hospital upon arriving there after a heart attack. They had no nurse there at all who knew how to address my wounds dressings.

There is no longer a dedicated wound care specialist nurse who knows the latest wound care  practices and you get a new nurse, to my particular wounds, almost every single time who has to waste lots of time asking the head nurse what specifically needs to be done for my wounds. My wounds are slightly particular as I also need extra compression to slow or stop my heavy edema which causes the wounds to stay open and not heal.

I have asked on several occasions when, or if, the service is going to reopen and why it stopped again. The answers have ranged from "we don't know" to ""they" can't find another nurse" to ""They" can't afford another nurse" and recently it was "yes we can afford some services but "they" don't really care about providing the service again". how about you tell us the truth about why this has happened and has been going along again for so long?

Every time I visit the ED to wait for wound dressings there is almost always at least one other patient there waiting for the same service. I understand this service was provided for people falling under the My Aged Care Umbrella and it needs to continue considering the numbers of aged residents in this smallish community.

This impacts a lot of lives, mostly elderly from what I have seen, in this community so please address it and get it started again. 

Looking forward to a straight reply to this mess.

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Responses

Response from Jody Rolston, Operations Manager Midwest Murchison, WA Country Health Service 3 weeks ago
Jody Rolston
Operations Manager Midwest Murchison,
WA Country Health Service

Submitted on 29/04/2024 at 5:44 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 30/04/2024 at 8:53 AM

picture of Jody Rolston

Dear Texacola

Thank you for sharing your story on Care Opinion.

I can appreciate your frustrations regarding your ongoing wound care and dressing changes. I can confirm that the Dongara Eneabba Mingenew Health Service is usually staffed to its appropriate level and does not include a dedicated Wound Dressing clinic. The best time for patients requiring reviews and dressing changes is between 11:00 and 13:00 when our Emergency Department is staffed at its maximum level. We appreciate this is not always convenient for everyone and we will of course accommodate anyone presenting outside of these times. High criticality patients presenting to the ED will always affect the time you may have to wait.

You are correct that nurses working in rural locations can be faced with learning a broader range of skills and we are supportive in ensuring our nurses can learn and increase their skillsets. I appreciate that this can sometimes mean they must seek guidance from senior staff as they acquire and develop these skills.

I would be grateful if you would contact me so I can discuss this in more detail, and you can be assured you are getting the most accurate and up to date information. My name is Jody Rolston, I am the Operations Manager Midwest Murchison and I can be contacted on 9956 2268 or email at Jody.Rolston@health.wa.gov.au If you have any questions whilst you are onsite at Dongara please speak with Trish Pavelka, Health Service Manager-Director of Nursing, who will also be happy to assist and will be more familiar with operational matters than the nursing workforce.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns and I do hope to hear from you soon.

Regards

Jody Rolston

Operations Manager Midwest Murchison

WA Country Health Service - Midwest

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Update posted by Texacola (a service user)

Thanks for your reply, however it addressed nothing about why the Wound Dressing Clinic was shut down.

You say... "I can confirm that the Dongara Eneabba Mingenew Health Service is usually staffed to its appropriate level and does not include a dedicated Wound Dressing clinic." as if the clinic was never there in the first place, which I can assure you it did in fact exist and was used by a large number of people as Dongara appears to be mainly made up of aged people. The clinic even had it's own dedicated room for treatment so there was no need to sit in the ED waiting room among other patients with who knows what infections. I feel we aged people with our knocks and scrapes and edema and cellulitis wounds need the Wound Dressing Clinic as a separate entity even if only to keep us safer.

I live 11 km's outside of town, as do a lot of the people I have seen also waiting in ED for dressings. Every day that I go in for my wound dressing I can't organise anything else for the day in town as you never know how long your wait is going to be. I feel it's not fair that we're forced to possibly wait so long, 4.5 hours on one day, for something that could be done in a half hour at an appointed time, like it was before with the clinic open. I feel it's not fair that we have to waste an entire day off sometimes just waiting for us to be prioritised because we're lucky enough that the next patient that comes in isn't a "Priority" patient who might die.

I believe all of the following centres have "Non-emergency appointments for clinical services"
Shark Bay Health Centre,
Mingenew Health Centre,
Leeman Health Centre,
Exmouth Health Service.
Eneabba Health Centre,
Geraldton Regional Hospital.

Just because we're technically remote doesn't mean we don't deserve the same reasonable standard of care that these other areas have available to their populace.

I felt you did the politicians method of answering a direct question by not actually answering the questions asked except for the most basic ones.

So I ask you again, why was the Wound Dressing Clinic closed down yet again? Why haven't we the people been given any answers as to if or when it may open again?

Why should I phone you? I feel everyone deserves the answers to these questions, not just the squeaky wheel.

Response from Jody Rolston, Operations Manager Midwest Murchison, WA Country Health Service 2 weeks ago
Jody Rolston
Operations Manager Midwest Murchison,
WA Country Health Service

Submitted on 1/05/2024 at 7:03 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 2/05/2024 at 9:22 AM

picture of Jody Rolston

Dear Texacola

Thank you for your further post. I do offer my apologies if you felt I didn’t address your points around the Wound Clinic at Dongara Health Service and again offer you the opportunity of contacting me to further discuss the issues you have raised. I am very keen to ensure we are providing quality and safe care to our consumers.

In 2020 a dedicated Wound Care clinic was opened at Dongara Health Centre during COVID restrictions to provide some separation from clients to the ED, however once restrictions ended patients were redirected back through to the Emergency Department. We also trialled a specific ‘Wound Clinic” for community clients between 11am-1pm Monday to Friday, however this was not sustainable due to limited clients presenting at their nominated times. In continuing to look for solutions that were operationally efficient and to meet the need of our consumers we have advised wound care clients to present to the health service between 11am and 3pm each day. This is when we have the highest level of staff rostered and therefore can assist in reducing wait times. This is of course accepting that high criticality patients will always take priority.

The other Midwest sites you mention operate under a similar arrangement to Dongara. I am aware that some sites do have specific appointment times, however if there was an emergency patient presenting, they will take priority over any less critical patient. Geraldton Hospital is the exception to this and have a dedicated Wound Clinic due to the community size and demand.

I want to acknowledge that wait times can be frustrating and I do appreciate that at times this can be inconvenient. However, I want to assure you that we constantly monitor our activity and demand for services in our community and always look for ways of improving the services for our consumers. I have certainly taken your feedback into consideration and will continue to work with Dongara Health Service to look at ways of streamlining the process for our wound care patients.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on (08) 9956 2268 if you would like to discuss this further.

Regards

Jody Rolston

Operations Manager Midwest Murchison

WA Country Health Service - Midwest

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