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"Lack of care or knowledge"

About: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

(as the patient),

Been seeing Rheumatology for a while now and they first diagnosed me with EDS, the first doctor I saw worked with me holistically and was really great at giving me lots of strategies to improve my daily life. Since then I was moved to a different doctor who has just been pushing physios. If I only had EDS that might be alright but I also have ME and specialists and emerge australia talk about how bad graded exercise therapy is. 

I came to my last appointment with a plan I've put in place with my GP to get to a physio but I was just told that wasn't good enough and "if I never start I won't get better". I'm not really mad I'm just exhausted like I wasted my time on a doctor that specialises in one thing but seemingly neglects holistic health. I have a care team that's known me much longer than this doctor who have led me to have massive improvements but I recall it was made clear I should ignore them from now on because this doctor is "the only EDS specialist in perth". Again, I don't only have EDS. 

The doctor continuously says their job is to just tell me to do more exercise, which feels like a waste of tax money considering it's a public service? 

Hyper focusing on one aspect of my health and deciding you know how to fix me after meeting me twice feels both arrogant and lazy.

I know I'm a complex case but when doctors seemingly won't even put in the extra effort to understand overlapping impairments and imply it's my fault I'm not improving as fast as they'd like to see, it just feels like I should stop trying to find extra supports.

I've left the service and know I'll continue to improve my body and strength at my own pace with my own care team but I believe this doctor will continue to hurt people similar to me and it is stressful. 

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Responses

Response from Jodi Graham, Executive Director, SCGOPHCG, Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group 3 weeks ago
Jodi Graham
Executive Director, SCGOPHCG,
Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group
Submitted on 12/03/2025 at 6:52 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 13/03/2025 at 4:19 PM


picture of Jodi Graham

Hi tired and bendy,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your experience with us. We acknowledge the frustration and challenges you've encountered with the current approach to your care, and we regret that it has not met your expectations.

The focus on exercise in isolation as you have pointed out clearly isn’t meeting your needs. We understand that you’ve made significant progress with your existing care team, and it’s unfortunate that this wasn’t more fully considered.

Moving forward, it’s crucial that as healthcare providers we work with you and other patients with complex needs to understand and listen about the broader picture of your health and current health needs. We hope that future interactions will allow for a more comprehensive and satisfying approach to care.

Kind regards,

Jodi Graham

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