"Contacting a family member admitted to hospital"

Please note the name in this story has been changed to maintain the patient's anonymity. 

I received a text message from my adult child's partner early morning recently advising that they were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH). I tried to find out more information from them, but they did not respond.

In phoning RPH, I advised that I would like to be put through to ICU where my child, Sam, had been admitted to. I was advised that they were on the ward and was put through and the person who answered the phone advised me that Sam had broken their hip and was currently sleeping. I advised that I would phone back. I was wondering how a young adult could break their hip but knew that it is not impossible so I did not question the information I was receiving.

When I called back the main switch number again, requesting the same as above, I was put through to where I believed my child was, and was told by that nurse that the doctor was currently with them and that they would be going in for surgery sometime in the morning. They asked if I could call back in about 10 minutes when the doctor would be finished.

I again called back, asking to speak with Sam. I was put through, the nurse at the desk could not get the phone to work so transferred me to the portable phone. This phone was taken to my child's bed. Upon saying hello, I immediately knew that it was not my child. I asked if I was speaking to my Sam and this person said yes then handed the phone over to their own child.

Here we discovered that person I was put through to, Sam, was an older parent who had broken their hip. Their child gave the phone back to one of the nurses on the ward and I was able to advise that I wanted to speak with my child, Sam, or the ward where they were.

Now I am still not even sure where this was. I was told ICU, then had the switch lady be quite firm with me telling me that Sam was never in ICU at that they were was in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU).

Anyhow, my child did not have a broken hip but had overdosed. I know how frail their mental health is. I was not listed as next of kin so I believe none of the nursing staff I spoke to wanted to give me 2 minutes of their time when in reality I feel would have been the best outside help they could have.

I went from believing that Sam's partner had it all wrong as on numerous occasions I was been told a different story to their version by many RPH staff. I would have preferred that my child broke their hip. But having the reality thrown at me after staff I dealt with realised the mistake, and then not taking the time to listen to me and my concerns really impacted my day twenty times more than what it needed to be.

I believe there were a serious number of errors in not identifying who I wanted to speak to. I mentioned my child's name, the suburb where they live and that they are my child (not an older parent) many times and believe this should have led me to be put through to the correct area in the beginning. It was certainly a double blow for me yesterday and really added to my stress.