"No communication"

I had gynaecological surgery a number of months ago at another hospital. Following the surgery I had complication with my leg – the pain was unbearable and I was bed ridden on the ward for 4 days. Eventually I managed to get up and out of bed, and at this point the hospital said it was time for me to be discharged.

Following this, at home, the pain would come and go. One night it flared up and was terrible all night. First thing in the morning I called my GP and went in to have it checked out. They advised me to go to the ED immediately – they even wanted to put me in an ambulance.

I presented at the ED and was seen straight away, which was good. While in the ED, the staff had me see a neurosurgeon and a registrar from the surgeon’s team. I also saw a neurologist. They sent me for various MRIs and CT scans, covering my spine and brain. I had had a number of surgeries on my spine years prior, and they wanted to investigate the possibility of that being the source of my pain.

That day I was admitted under the neurology team to Ward 3 West. More scans were done (on my brain, spine and neck). They noted that everything looked fine with my spine, which was a relief. The neurosurgeons said they would speak to the neurologist to look at my leg.

During my time on the ward there was no communication, it was so frustrating. No one could tell me what was happening with my treatment; I would ask the nurses and they said they would ask the doctors to find out, but this never seemed to get back to me.

8 days in and still nothing had been done with my leg. The neurosurgeon said that my spine was fine and that I could go. I still had no idea what was causing the pain in my leg. I went to the NUM that day and advised them to look at the report of the surgeon who performed the original gynaecological surgery, as this was where the complications and pain began. The neurosurgeon came back to see me and said that they had seen some of the original surgeon's notes, but that they had misplaced them. So now my personal, confidential medical notes were missing.

I was discharged that day. The next day I received a call from the neurologist asking where I was. I explained that I had been discharged by the neurosurgeon the previous day. They explained that they were not told that I was being discharged and that they had wanted me to see the gynaecology team and have some further testing done. They were very apologetic.

I am now seeing the neurologist as an outpatient, and they have sent me for nerve testing at another place, which is $50 out of pocket, as well as an MRI on my leg which is $300-400. If I was still in hospital, all of this would have been done at the appropriate time. But because one team didn’t communicate to the other that they were discharging me, I have to follow up all of this outside of hospital. And despite being out of hospital, I am still unable drive, or work, as my leg remains an issue. The whole experience has been extremely frustrating.

I do want to say that the nurses were great, and that the neurologist is lovely and has been very apologetic about the whole situation, despite it not being their fault. I just find it so frustrating and disgusting that the lack of communication has put me in the situation I am in now.