"Appreciation of care by staff, nurses and specialist"

My son had an eye trauma accident and I drove him to Northam Health Services ED.

We were triaged and seen within an hour and a half by Dr Gav.

He was very switched on, realised the seriousness of the injury and spoke to the eye specialist at Royal Perth Hospital immediately to organise for us to go to the eye clinic. 

Dr Gav took the initiative to do an X-ray and CT scan while we were waiting to hear back from the specialist, which saved time of having to do this when we got to RPH.

Specialists at RPH then advised DR Gav if we arrived at the eye clinic before 3pm they could fit my son in on their emergency list and be consulted.

Our gratitude to Dr Gav and staff at the Northam Health Services is very much appreciated and hopefully this fast action taken has helped save my sons eye.

My son was admitted to Royal Perth Hospital with an eye trauma accident.  The specialist and surgeons from the eye clinic on level 7 were very thorough and took great care in treating my son and informing my son and myself(mum) of all the details, procedure and post op outcome.

The staff on ward 4a were very helpful and obliging with answering questions and printing out forms that I needed to complete.

The nurses on ward 4a had utmost care and were mostly polite in their very busy shifts. Occasionally we had to remind them they had forgot to come back to finish off giving medication. I feel they are so run off their feet and dealing with lots of patients that sometimes things get forgotten.

Some had time to chat, some just doing what they had to do and some with great sense of humour, but their care was at the forefront each time.

The hospital itself is very old and quite depressing and it would be great if the WA government would spend some funds on it or build a new hospital as it is an extremely busy public hospital in Perth.

The wards and levels we were in were clean and tidy, but just old and tired. 

I feel a refurbished or new hospital would definitely benefit and boost the morale of all staff and visitors.

We were very fortunate not to have to transition through the Royal Perth Hospital ED as we were fast tracked from Northam Hospital and I could drive my son the RPH.

The current wait time in RPH ED that day was 8 hours and the were 12 ambulances ramped. There was an approximate wait time of 5 hours for a CT scan as a ED patient at RPH.

We are thankful we didn't have to go through this process but felt guilty bypassing all those patients waiting, and really feel for all staff, nurses and Drs that work under that pressure.

I don't know the answer to ambulance ramping but the WA government need to help our public health system to make the experience better for all.

My son's treatment and daily appointments are ongoing and we will not know for a few months if the eye sight will be affected,  but the fast and prompt actions from Dr Gav at Northam Health Services and Dr Alex and his team at Royal Perth Hospital eye clinic has given my son's eye a good chance of healing and hopefully has eye sight.