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"Appendicitis Emergency"

About: Sutherland Hospital / Cooinda

(as the patient),

I presented to The Sutherland Hospital recently with a high fever and abdominal pain. I had already taken myself to my local medical centre and the doctor there gave me a letter and sent me straight to the hospital. I was seen fairly quickly in Emergency and then taken to a bed in Emergency. They had given me 2 Panadol, but then said I wasn't to have anything at all, not even water. They hooked me up to a drip to rehydrate me. I had a CT scan later on, and appendicitis was confirmed. I was transferred to a bed in a ward later that night and spent the night there after being told I would be operated on the next day between 8am & 11am. At that time the room I was put in (fairly small compared to the other rooms in the same ward) was occupied by another woman who left the next day. They brought in someone else fairly quickly and so there were two of us then. The next day they then brought in another 2 ladies (one of whom came with 9 visitors! ) Yes, 9. The room by then was fairly crowded and as it was a much smaller room than the others, it seemed that 4 patients in there was too many. As I was a private patient - having been encouraged to sign to have the hospital receive benefits as a private patient - I thought this was a bit poor. The room around our beds was quite small and nursing staff were struggling to get between the beds with their equipment - blood pressure monitors, etc. I was operated on later that afternoon and stayed for a total of 4 nights. The nursing staff were lovely and very hard working, don't get me wrong. More than one of the staff did a double shift while I was there. The room, however, was a total disappointment.  The surgeon was a delight to deal with. The anaesthetist, in my opinion, was not. The theatre staff were very friendly and put me at ease in a situation I was not familiar with. The catering and cleaning staff were also friendly and helpful at helping to pick up stuff I might have dropped, but couldn’t pick up of course! I think the overcrowding of this particular room (the one near the door which connects to the next ward) was ridiculous.   Also the bathrooms – both the toilet room & shower room could have been cleaned better and more often. They weren’t the cleanest. With infection risks this is something that needs to be addressed as a priority. Also there was more than one communication breakdown – first when I was questioning whether I would be operated on as the day dragged on – secondly when I was to be discharged – one nurse said, you’re going home today! I was thrilled. I hadn’t had much sleep. But this wasn’t the case.   It was the next day and as the day dragged on I had to repeatedly ask the staff when I could get the discharge papers. I finally did and my husband took me home around mid afternoon, but I think I would have been in there another night had I not insisted.   Perhaps some control of visitors could also be useful as people who are in there are sick in one form or another.  

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Responses

Response from Valerie Jovanovic, General Manager, General Manager's Unit, The Sutherland Hospital 6 years ago
Valerie Jovanovic
General Manager, General Manager's Unit,
The Sutherland Hospital
Submitted on 6/11/2018 at 11:51 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:21 PM


Dear Shire Mum

Thank you for your feedback regarding your recent experience at The Sutherland Hospital. I hope you are recovering well from your surgery and getting back on the road to good health.

It sounds like the ED staff kept you nil by mouth, which means nothing to eat or drink, in the event that you needed to have an emergency surgery. I’m sorry if this caused you further discomfort while waiting to be operated on for appendicitis. Please be assured that fasting prior to surgery is routine for all patients and is for your safety while under an anaesthetic.

I acknowledge your comments regarding the crowded room. Our patients should expect to be cared for in an environment that allows them to rest and recover from their health conditions and I’m sorry that we didn’t provide you with this basic level of care and privacy during your stay with us.

I was pleased to read your kind comments regarding our surgeon, the nursing staff, theatre staff, cleaning and catering staff. I was glad that these staff members provided you with good care and demonstrated the type of care we strive to provide our patients with every day.

We will work on the things that weren’t quite right and I will provide your feedback regarding the visitors, the cleanliness of the room, the communication of our staff, from the anaesthetist to the wait for your discharge paperwork, back to our staff who cared for you. It is important that we discuss these things with our teams so we can improve the care we provide and these issues clearly affected your experience with us.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to provide us with your thoughts and I wish you all the very best for a speedy recovery.

Kind regards, Valerie

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Update posted by Shire Mum (the patient)

Hi Valerie

Fasting and nil by mouth didn’t bother me in the least. I have probably never felt less like eating and I had a drip rehydrating me. The wait for the surgery was frustrating especially after being told by the surgery staff that I would be operated on earlier. Waiting the whole day was hard and I had to end up having to gargle (and not swallow) to make sure my mouth wasn’t too dry. The room was the main issue especially after assigning the benefits to the hospital. It was way too crowded.

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