"Recent C-section and following hospital care"

I recently had a C-section a few weeks ago at Fiona Stanley Hospital. My section went smoothly with no complications in surgery or in recovery for either myself and my baby.

Following the c-section, the hospital went into bypass just over 24 hours later. I was told I would need to be transferred to Armadale hospital, but that it’s always such a hassle to move mums and newborns and that there’s so much paperwork. On top of that, I had told my care team throughout my pregnancy that I didn’t want anything to do with Armadale as during my previous pregnancies they had disgusting bedside manner and were very flippant about my concerns. 

So I asked to be discharged. This didn’t go against any medical advice they were giving me and said I would have been discharged from Armadale the following day anyway. 

After being at home for 5 days and having a midwife come out from Armadale every day, I was diagnosed with hypertension and sent to Armadale ED who, instead of giving me anything for a blood pressure of 154/98 just sent me home and told me to follow up with my GP. I felt the doctors and nurses at Armadale did not understand my hesitancy at being in an emergency room with a 5 day old and sent for blood tests to look for clots. When I asked what would happen they responded, as I recalled, if it comes back positive we will send for a CT scan, considering you recently had surgery, it will most likely come back positive. Instead of sending me for a CT then, I had to wait 3 hours for the test to come back positive before they even completed the paperwork to send off for a CT scan. All the while I had asked for a breast pump so I could feed my baby. Yet Obstetrics refused to send one down after being asked 7 times. 

In the morning recently, I noticed my wound had not been closed properly and phoned Fiona Stanley Patient Liaison line who told me to go to my GP or present to emergency as there is nothing they can do until it is fixed. Later that night I presented to Armadale emergency as my c-section wound had more flaps of skin making holes and the skin wasn’t stitched down. 

Following an assessment in which doctors put on a discharge summary as, "advised pt that the 2 flaps of skin that she has noticed are probably not approximated well", and being told that there is nothing that Armadale will do, I was sent home with my wound redressed and more pain pills given to me, that make it nearly impossible to breastfeed my baby. 

I am disgusted at the care from both hospitals throughout this time and the fact that I felt no one was willing to fix my wound without me having to jump through hoops. As it is, I am nearly 3 weeks post-Caesar and am still in significant pain around my incision. 

My last c-section left me feeling confident to have more kids, but this c-section has left me feeling butchered and absolutely disgusted in the health care system. 

In Fiona Stanley’s patient information brochure, it specifically states that “All patients have the right to, receive safe and high-quality health care provided with professional care, skill and competence”.

I do not feel that this is what I received at all.