"Very ordinary experience with admittance to Sydney Eye Hospital"

We arrived at the Sydney Eye Hospital for my wife to be admitted to the hospital. We had a letter from our specialist stating that my wife required immediate admission and immediate pain relief. We were told we had to do this through the Emergency Department. We arrived at 11 am and my wife was not admitted until 3 pm and was not given any pain relief until then - and that was only Panadol when it was given.

During our long wait, I asked the nurse if they had even read the letter to which they replied - you need to settle down. I wasn't doing anything except trying to ensure that the letter from the specialist had been read. My wife was in pain.

Once we were admitted they took us to the public hospital, we have private health insurance, and they tried to admit my wife into a room with 3 other occupants. I had to complain saying, we are private, they asked, do you want a private room, to which I said, yes. So my wife was given a private room, but we were told they may move her at any time. When I asked why we were public, when we were using our private health cover, I was told the hospital earns more money.

It seemed to me, that most of the nurses attending my wife, could barely speak English, and the nurse who appeared to be my wife's main carer, I felt was one of the rudest people I have ever met and would not tell us anything that was happening.

So whilst my wife is on the mend, I have to say the whole admittance procedure was very ordinary.