"My great care at Bunbury Hospital"

After several days of chest pain, and using my Nitro spray with little respite, I chose to present at Bunbury ED. Being Triage 1, I was seen in a timely manner. With every detail and professional detail from all the staff, attending to my pain and my condition, I felt comfortable in their hands. With X-rays and lots of constant tests, after 4 hours, I was moved to the short stay unit. NEAT (National Emergency Access Target) kicked in and I was happy with that. Got to keep the % (of patients leaving the ED within 4 hours either through discharge or admission) in perspective.

The senior nurse was a blessing in so many ways, but my story digresses as they had the 'patience of Job' with an elderly patient with mild dementia, who called out all night for their carer, and kept removing their BP finger 'stall' (oxygen saturation monitor). They were on their feet quietly and constantly explaining to this patient that removing would keep ringing the alarm buzzer, waking other patients (me, although not stated specifically). The nurse came in all night stating this was a bad night for alarms overall.

I thought it may have been the norm. I did catch 35 winks throughout the night with 2 toilet walks.

My story then goes a little sad as only once, after this neighbour of mine kept calling constantly throughout the night, were they offered one small sip of water. There was no mention of toileting at any stage.

Around 7:45am I asked to be disconnected from my monitor to visit the toilet. I then told the new day staff member that my 'neighbour' had not been toileted to my knowledge since my arrival around 11pm. I believe I am correct in this statement, and I think more checks could have been done verbally since they were awake most of the night.