"Admission and subsequent rehabilitation"

I was admitted with a medical problem which resolved relatively quickly, but I felt the period of hospitalisation exacerbated the chronic health problem I have. I subsequently had a period of three weeks rehabilitation to get back to my pre-admission level of functioning.

I was impressed by the standard and level of care provided to me both by medical and allied health staff. Interventions were timely, thorough and appropriate. Nurses seemed to be the most understaffed and based on my experience, individually ranged from competent and kind to those lacking clinical competence and sensitivity to patients’ dignity. In the main, given the level of pressure under which they operate I was overall highly respectful of the care provided. I was saddened though, that inevitably with the pressure under which they operate, I felt there was little or no time for practical or emotional assistance if needed.

I wondered, and asked, if there was a rehabilitation ward where there might be a higher nurse to patient ratio, larger rooms to accommodate a wheelchair and other aids required together with bathrooms better equipped in terms of space, handrails and positioning of toilets to enable nurses to better assist with patient care. I was informed that there is no such Ward and I strongly believe that there should be, to enable people requiring rehabilitation to complete the work they need to do to return home and to their community with a higher degree of functioning and their self-esteem intact.

When I was first admitted, I needed up to 3 nurses to help me transfer from bed to toilet, etc. Requiring three nurses to be available at the same time inevitably meant that I had to wait a fair period of time to get assistance after ringing a call bell. Rarely did this assistance come quickly, and sometimes it was over three quarters of an hour wait. I needed a hoist in the first instance. An extraordinary piece of equipment which in my opinion, would give anyone a sense of vulnerability and exposure. Having to transfer to the toilet with pants removed (covered only with  a towel) in a four bed ward with a door through which there is a constant stream of staff and at times visitors, was not one of my fondest memories of the hospital. Necessary but certainly my emotional reaction to this would have been diminished by a higher level of privacy.

More broadly there are a number of areas where I believe improvements could be made. During my three weeks stay I observed a number of elderly and vulnerable patients who had sustained fractures after falls and had nothing other than what they had come into hospital with. There seems to be currently no resources to assist them with warm clothing for example, so that they could be comfortable with other than thin hospital issued cotton pyjamas.