"ED and short stay unit"

Recently, my husband had a red and inflamed foot, and was quickly admitted through triage to a cubicle. He had cellulitis and needed IV antibiotics. I needed to leave to pick up our children, and before I left we knew that he would be admitted to Short Stay overnight.

When I returned at about 4:30pm, I went to the triage desk, explaining that my husband would be moved to Short Stay unit, but I don't know where. The triage nurse directed me to the corridor to access SSU from the corridor/door bell. When I had access through to the area in between SSU and Emergency, I noticed two nurses chatting in the open area (not with any patients). I explained my situation - "excuse me, my husband has been moved to SSU, but I don't know where, since I was here earlier, his surname is xxxxx I'm not sure where to find him?"

One of the nurses who was talking crossed her arms over her chest and said - well, I don't know who your husband is, you need to go to the desk to find out where he is - and pointed to the desk in Emergency, down the other end near the resus bays.

Just a small amount of kindness would have made this interaction so much more pleasant - even being directed to the SSU desk would have been more helpful than being spoken to in that way.

Other than that unfortunate experience, the staff at Angliss were great. The lack of TVs in the SSU was a bit sad too.

Thank you to the care provided by all staff, and please don't show your grumpiness. I am sure nurses are asked all the time where their loved ones are - but for me, it was my first experience trying to find a patient in an unfamiliar area.