"Complaint/Feedback regarding treatment"

It's a complaint regarding the treatment that I received at Bunbury Regional Hospital. I sent the following feedback at "swfeedback@health.wa.gov.au", but my email bounced back, saying that the email address didn't exist.

The complaint is regarding the Maternity staff at Bunbury regional hospital. I was pregnant and admitted in the Maternity Ward a few months ago for Induction of Labour planned the next day. Until the time of delivery everything was fine.

It was post-delivery when things went wrong. I was supposed to be catheterised after delivery, however, it seems the midwife on duty ignored to do so. The midwife was assisted by a trainee, who suggested the midwife on duty to catheterise me but they said that it was not required.

I believe this caused my bladder to stretch due to excessive accumulation of urine, as I was not able to pass urine. Pre-delivery, I was administered an early epidural for pain relief - so under the influence of epidural, I could not sense the need to pass urine. What I believe to be this ignorance to catheterise me, according to the hospital staff, was an incident which they reported as per their procedures.

Staff attitude

My partner and I asked the staff to advise us on next steps. We were told that it was an unfortunate incident and that they were sorry, which to us was not a reasonable and acceptable answer. We requested the staff to provide us with the details of the damage to the bladder (e.g., the level of damage on a scale of 10), to which they replied that they were not able to provide any numbers. They suggested to catheterise me again to monitor urine volumes for a couple of days to see if my bladder was functioning normally - to which we agreed.

Staff skills

The hospital staff retained me at the hospital for about 3 days and 2 nights (post-delivery), catheterised, to avoid any pressure on the bladder. On the 3rd day we were told that they were going to discharge us from the hospital and that I could go home with the catheter in for another few days. This was not acceptable to us and we asked the staff that if monitoring/catheter was still required, that meant that I had not recovered and that I should stay admitted in the hospital. We were told about the Trial of Void test, that if I passed the test then I could go home.

On the same day (3rd day), the staff did a trial of void and said that I passed the test, the catheter was no longer required and that I could go home. We requested for an ultrasound scan of a full and empty bladder to measure the residual volume of urine. However, we were told that it was not possible until 2-3 weeks after delivery. We were discharged from the hospital, provided with a Discharge Summary. We were assured that there would be follow-ups with Continence Nurse, which - after more than a month - didn't happen.

The next day, I started to have severe pain in my abdomen. I contacted the Maternity Ward for examination and advice, who said that they were not able to assist because it was not relevant to them. They advised that I should go to the Emergency Department (ED). We proceeded to the ED at Bunbury Hospital late at night where I was examined. At ED, they did an ultrasound scan of the bladder before and after urination - the residual volume of urine was within acceptable limits (according to the doctor on duty). We wonder that if, according to staff at Maternity Ward, it was not possible to find out the residual volume of urine in bladder, how did the staff at ED do it?

Treatment

Since the time following my discharge from the hospital, I have been calling the hospital for help, requesting an appointment with Continence Nurse and with a Physiotherapist. Every time I was assured that my appointments had been booked and that I would be contacted soon - never happened, until one day when I was told that I didn't have any appointments booked. In my opinion, there's something seriously wrong. Every time we speak with the hospital, we hear a different story. We can't tell between the truth and what we feel is a lie.

We have been left in the lurch to deal with the consequence of what I believe is the negligence of the hospital staff. I have had my ultrasound done a couple of times now, and I still am not satisfied about my condition.

I feel I have not been treated well post-delivery. I believe I need regular follow-ups until my bladder has fully recovered and we need to be kept informed throughout the follow-up process. Moreover, we need to know about the action taken against the midwife who was responsible as in my opinion, this is sheer negligence and non-compliance to procedures on their part.

Thank you!