"My elderly relative"

Recently, my elderly relative had a fall in their aged care facility. They were assessed and sent by ambulance to Sutherland Hospital.

We arrived at Sutherland Hospital and were directed to the Ambulance waiting area in the Emergency Department (ED). In a very short time, my relative was transferred to an ED bed, then a staff member from the Rapid Unit came and took us all up to the Rapid Unit. They explained the plan to get my relative assessed and treated and home as soon as possible. My relative was back at the aged care home by the afternoon so spent about 7.5 hours in hospital.

So from the beginning, the Ambulance staff were wonderful, kind, caring and compassionate.

The nursing staff were all equally wonderful. We accompanied my relative to the ward, then to Radiology and back to the ward. In Radiology, there was an extended wait whilst my relative was in CT but a lovely nurse came out to find us to tell us what was happening.

The porter who transferred my relative to and from Radiology was lovely, warm, and helpful.

The nurses in Rapid unit were just incredible, seriously incredible! Professional, warm, caring, patient/family centred. After a few hours, we had to go home and feed the dog that we are babysitting and change cars to the bigger one, suitable to take a frail elderly home. We were a few minutes away from The Sutherland Hospital, got a call from a nurse in the Rapid Unit that my relative was ready for discharge. They said that they would bring them down to the front entrance. So, how easy is that we pull up at the front door and our dear relative is delivered to us via wheelchair by a wonderful, kind and very professional nurse, helps us put them in the car and hands us the discharge summary. How fabulous was that!

I would just like to say that a very distressing day for us was also one where we were humbled by the care and kindness of the staff involved in the management of a frightened elderly and their stressed family. You should be very proud of your healthcare service.