"Inpatient stay"

I arrived at Cockburn Health, Fiona Stanley Hospital, from Peel Health Campus ED, due to chronic anxiety, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts, related to PMDD, which were magnified due to domestic abuse. I arrived quite late at night, after being transferred from ED. I hadn’t had any dinner whilst in ED and when I asked for some dinner I was told to help myself to whatever was in the patient fridge that didn’t have a name on it. There was nothing in the fridge. I was starving.

I had no idea what the facility was, as I had never been to an inpatient mental health facility before, and I hadn’t no idea what care they were going to provide to me or what would happen. I was provided with no information upon arrival or the next day. I wasn’t advised when meal times were in the dining room, how to use the lifts, as you require a pass band to use them of which I wasn’t told, what was going to happen in the following days, any type of plan, my length of stay or services available. In addition to that I wasn’t told I needed to swarm the nurses desk to for all my needs including medication requests. This triggered my anxiety and panic attacks. I had to ask other patients for information in place of the staff actually doing their job. Every patient complained about the same in take process of not knowing what was going on or what treatment/care they would receive and how this caused them anxiety too.

I was placed on a ward with patients that were detoxing from alcohol or drugs which also triggered my anxiety and panic attacks. I felt scared and frightened by the actions of these patients who would often have psychotic episodes which included the police attending.

During my 4 week stay there I received no specific treatment by allied health professionals for my presenting symptoms and conditions, apart from medication, i felt they were merely masking the real issues at hand and creating medication dependence. I asked for specific services that I found out were available from other patients, but was not provided them.

The nurses would often forget to give me my medication. This caused me terrible anxiety and a complete distrust of the staff as many of the medications I take cause withdraw symptoms if not taken as directed. The doctors made multiple errors with my medication chart, which took 3 weeks to get right. Relief doctors would often come in and re-chart medication charts incorrectly and this would cause me extreme stress due to the type of medications I’m on, as discussed above.

There are no call bells in the rooms and each patient has to stand around the nurses desk, often for 5 to 10 minutes, waiting for an available nurse to ask for anything, including medications, of which would see me have to attend the nurses desk up to 10 times a day. If patients ask for PRN medication the nurses interrogate the patient as to why you want the medication and you’re forced to breach your own privacy rights, in front of other patients, in doing so. 4 nurses were so rude and disrespectful to me that I had to file complaints. These nurses were also rude and disrespectful to other patients.

There was always confidential patient information/documents/records laying around and computer screens with patient information in complete view of patients.

When I asked for assistance in applying for an Independent Residential Unit, the Social Worker provided me incorrect information, stating they are only for patients with Schizophrenia, which is incorrect, as confirmed by multiple IRU organisations. When I asked the Social Worker for assistance in applying for NDIS she advised me they only assist patients that can’t return home after discharge and provided an example of a patient with an amputated leg that can’t return to their unit that has stairs. As I am currently homeless and returning to my parent’s house would cause me harm, due to their abuse, I expected assistance with this but was denied. When I requested EMDR therapy I was told “It’s the Clinical Psychologists decision to offer that therapy” and didn’t bother to request this from them.

Despite the facility being a women’s mental health facility there are no services for women experiencing domestic violence, despite most women in there having experienced it and it being a contributing factor in their admission. There are no Gynaecologists or specialists that manage women’s reproductive health conditions such as PMDD.

I felt the doctor I was allocated gaslighted me and I didn’t feel safe around them whatsoever, so I asked for another doctor. I had to call Aishwaryas Care Call to report that my mental health was declining whilst at the facility, due to a combination of all of these issues, and requested changes to my care, as per my rights stipulated in the charter of healthcare rights. Nothing was done about it and that call was a waste of time. Yet another service that is seemingly simply there to appease patients and give them a false sense of security and safety, just like the charter of healthcare rights, in my opinion, that get breached without consequence.

I believe this facility has severe operational issues, given it has only been in operation 6 months, and it seems the staff always invite feedback due to this. However as a result of my complaint, and request for changes to my care, I believe I was suddenly discharged with no warning as punishment for my complaints. I feel this is a direct breach of right 7 in the charter of healthcare rights. I advised them I was suicidal and didn’t feel safe to be discharged and they continued to discharge me, which I feel is a breach of their duty of care, and advised me to re-present at any hospitals ED for further treatment.

I have concerns for a number of patients at the facility that are not receiving proper care.