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Care Opinion

Plastics

Posted By rhinojm34

"Plastics"

About: Perth Children's Hospital / Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery - Outpatient Clinic C

(as a parent/guardian),

My child attended PcH to deal with a broken finger - the doctors on the day couldn’t specify what the injury was. Two days later after booking a time slot of 9:30 and arriving at 9:00am I wasn’t seen to until 11am where my child had their cast cut off all for the doctor to do a really basic movement test and then give me a diagnosis.

At the time of writing this story we are now waiting yet again - currently 12pm for a cast to be put back on. After asking the admin desk how much longer we had to wait - their response being one other person is ahead of you (background to me is that I have 2 other children of similar age and I run my own small business with critical meetings scheduled for the afternoon - my spouse is away working) was highly infuriating - at least provide a time range.

I my opinion the staff don’t care for personal situations and I now find myself deliberating about having to cancel critical meetings for the small business. 

My gripe is why bother with a booking system if the doctors and physicians never are on time? 

Why can’t staff have made the diagnosis on first visit and not further waste resources within the hospital? 

Very irate and if I delivered this level of service in private business I wouldn’t have a business so why is the public sector any different. 

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Responses

Response from Jaan Turner, A/Nurse Co-Director – Surgery Division, Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA 3 weeks ago
Jaan Turner
A/Nurse Co-Director – Surgery Division,
Child and Adolescent Health Service - WA

Submitted on 3/10/2024 at 11:41 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:18 PM

Dear rhinojm34

Thank you for sharing your experience with us regarding your child’s appointment in the Plastics Clinic at Perth Children’s Hospital. I am sorry to hear that you had a lengthy delay for your appointment.

From the information you shared, it seems that your child required a specialist team to accurately diagnose the type of finger fracture and determine the appropriate treatment. We understand how incredibly frustrating it can be for parents when clinics do not run to schedule. We try to work around parents’ commitments and personal situations and our medical staff do try and keep to schedule as much as possible. It is important to note that the Plastics clinic is one of the busiest clinics in the hospital and delays can occur as they often need to accommodate daily referrals from the Emergency Department (ED) which can be difficult to predict.

We appreciate that you have taken the time to provide your feedback which has been shared with the Plastics team as an important reminder of the impact that delays have on parents and families who also have other commitments. You are welcome to contact the Child and Family Liaison Service by phone on 6456 0032 or by email at CAHSFeedback@health.wa.gov.au if you would like to discuss your feedback further.

Warm regards,

J Turner

Nurse Co-Director, Surgical Directorate.

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