"Wait time"

I'm an older person.  I fell backwards down 3 stairs, landed on my back and hit my head. I was knocked out for a short time. At first, I rested and stayed hydrated but when I wasn't feeling better after a couple of days I presented at Joondalup Emergency with headaches, dizziness and a sore back and stated I was concerned about a possible brain bleed. After waiting several hours I complained of the pain again and was given 2 panadol,  a few hours later I complained again and my blood pressure was taken. After another few hours and suffering severe back pain, I was told it would take at least 4 - 5 hours to be seen.

I chose to leave and visit a GP, by this time it was morning.  The GP told me I had a mild concussion and I was sent for a CT scan which showed nothing of concern. I was later sent for a CT scan after complaining of tingling in my legs this showed a 60% crush fracture of my L4 vertebra which required spinal fusion.  Had I been seen at the hospital, I believe my concerns about a brain bleed could have been allayed and the pain from the broken back could have been addressed much sooner.   As I was leaving, one of the staff asked me to put in a complaint, which I did, and I've never heard a thing.

This is not the first time I've felt ignored at JHC. Even though I was brought in by ambulance, in extreme pain, I was sent home suffering from a femoral condole fracture having received no treatment apart from a nurse rubbing Dencorub on my knee.  

We are pensioners but in both of these cases we ended up paying several hundreds of dollars to get private scans done. Even though JHC is my closest hospital I fear ever having to go there again.