"Medical staff wonderful, not so much with admin staff."

My husband was taken by ambulance to Monash Medical Centre with symptoms of eye and mouth paralysis.

The two ambulance medics who attended were a great team and very pleasant to talk to. They took him to Monash Medical Centre Emergency Department and the Medical attention he got was super fast and efficient. All the care and attention he received from the Doctors, Nurses, Speech Therapist and medical staff were fantastic.

Professor Henry was the Neurologist on duty and, when attending to review my husband, specifically told us that he wanted to see him again in 3 to 4 weeks time in his outpatient clinic.

On discharge, the Medical staff told me that if I did not receive a letter from the outpatient department within a week regarding a follow up appointment then I should ring and make an appointment.

I waited a little over a week to hear from Monash - when we had not received any information, I rang the outpatient department to find out whether my husband had an appointment with Dr Henry. I was told by the reception staff that there was no appointment booked, that it would not be possible to get an appointment in the time frame required and that the next availability would be at least six months away. I told them that I was merely conveying the information as per Dr Henry’s request and had a Discharge letter from Monash stating that we should come in for a follow up appointment in 3 to 4 weeks time. However, the Receptionist/Clerk at the Neurology clinic said that the Doctors do not know their schedules and they ask patients to come in for appointments that cannot be fulfilled within their stated times! She was not very helpful. After talking to her and trying to convince her that I was only quoting the neurologist, she told me that the referral letter had just come in and she said she was writing an email (while she was on the phone talking to me) regarding this matter. I asked her whether she could notify me by email and gave her my email address so that she could let me know the outcome and an appointment time and she said she would do that.

Nearly two weeks later I have still not had any confirmation of an appointment time. It’s a sad situation when the Medical staff at Monash have been so courteous and nice and yet the administrative staff do not follow through – which is enough to give the Hospital so many bad reviews.

We are very grateful to the Doctors and Medical staff at Monash for the care and attention they gave my husband - thank you very much. However, it is unfortunate that this good experience has been tainted by the poor communication and lack of information from the outpatient administrative staff.