Thread: Public hospital system..A real eye opener

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

......You forgot to mention the red and white free taxi co. they used to get to the ED. (the one with red and blue flashing lights and a siren).

Don't forget the ones that fly, there are a few frequent flyers out there too. The ones who have more important social functions to attend, rather than have Dialysis when scheduled and just have their own personal aircraft pick them up when they show up at the clinic in a bad way.

Try going to the hospital with the worse waiting time in Aust - Canberra Hospital.

I turned up there at about 11 at night with a relatively minor but painful injury - a few people around and few more arrived while I was there. I know how the system works and after triage expected to be treated as a low priority.

At 3 in the morning I had been there a few hours and asked when I would be seen and was told "in due course". By about 5.30 (over 6 hours since I arrived) no one else was there and hadn't been for about an hour, the nurses were joking around with each other and broken out the sandwiches.

I went over and asked when I would be seen (still in considerable pain) and the response was "are you waiting to be seen?" - . Somehow I had slipped off the admission/triage record available to them and even though I was waiting in their room they thought I was there for some other reason .

They then said I would not be able to be seen for a little while - was just after 6 by this time - so I had a little bit of dummy spit and left and went and sat outside my Doctors which opens at 7 on the off chance that I could get in first (normally a 3 day wait) and after a small 15 minute op all was done.

Unfortunately about 6 months later I had a major altercation with an angle grinder and did some major damage. I should have gone straight to the hospital but due to my previous bad experience I didn't and as a result I now some permanent tendon, bone and nerve damage.

So while I agree that emergency departments are misused a lot of people have no other option - long lead times to see a GP, virtually no bulk billing GPs in Canberra etc. Maybe the Govts should be providing out of hours GP clinics in hospitals (not high expense locums) and nurses for minor issues.

When I was a kid you could go to the ambulance station for minor stuff and the ambos would fix you splinters, cuts and abrasions and if in their opinion was worse either refer you to hospital or take you. I am not advocating this now but maybe a bulk bill GP clinic where basic first aid can be done by nurses and also refer patients to a GP or emergency as appropriate.

I have really lost faith in the hospital system.

Garry

Can't disagree with most of the above!

My all too frequent trips to the hospital have generally involved me sitting around for hours waiting to be seen for far longer than should have been the case (generally 3-6 hours), but admittedly also for things that were not getting any worse by me sitting there. The times I was really in strife I was generally getting fixed in under 10 minutes.

With the amount of abuse they get day in day out, it simply amazes me that anyone works in ER.

I reckon there should be peak hours GP there to deal with the minor stuff (something that is being trialled in some places in NSW), and a big burly bloke with a taser to sort out anyone giving grief to the staff.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

.
I have been told in Bundaberg, Sydney and Hobart that the priorities work as follow:
1st in severe asthma attack and angioedema
2nd chest pain.

In all the hospital that I have been there is a strict policy that abuse will be not tolerated and people will be removed form the hospital by security or police. < and so it should be, nurses, doctors and other health workers do not come to work to be abused. >
What it is going on in the NT ?

Not true. The category is not diagnosis based, it is based upon multi-factors which assess the maximum time the collection of signs and symptoms (+/- differential diagnosis) can afford to wait until definitive treatment is commenced.

Yes severe asthma, with central cyanosis, obstructive airway and an O2 saturation below 90 may get a cat 1, but most asthma would get a 2 or 3.
Heart attacks would likely get a 2 or an asprin and a 3 while someone in cardiopulmonary arrest is automatically a 1.

AUSTRALIAN TRIAGE SCALE
CATEGORY - ACUITY* - PERFORMANCE INDICATOR THRESHOLD**
ATS 1 - Immediate - 100%
ATS 2 - 10 minutes - 80%
ATS 3 - 30 minutes - 75%
ATS 4 - 60 minutes - 70%
ATS 5 - 120 minutes - 70%

* (Maximum waiting time)
** (the Government funding criteria, performance below the threshold will likely mean a reduction in the budget)

Well, bearing in mind my previous post, I wouldn't want anyone to think I've lost faith in our Hospital system, because I haven't,....only in the administration of the "Emergency" Depts,....and what I've said & seen, seems to be Australia wide......If it's not serious.......send 'em on their way......and if there's any physical stuff/ violence etc....call the cops & have 'em charged.
We have a wonderful Hospital system. My mother in Law, who's never had private health cover has had two very serious operations on her intestines...3-4 weeks in hospital....cost her nothing, recently another 4 weeks in hospital for pneumonia...cost her nothing.....& all the medication she takes costs her nothing.
When ya look at the cost of maintaining the medicare system, all the offices, all the computers etc, all the staff, and all the benefits paid, and the cost of running the hospitals, the TOTAL cost must be HHUUGGEE. But it's an awesome caring system, although I don't know how we can continue to fund this level of care....it must be one of the best in the world.
BUT, I do not like to see it being abused, & so I say there should be more control & rules, to ensure improper "use" of the Emergency dept.
Cheers, Pickles.

Ean,

Glad to hear your daughter is on the mend, and totally agree with your assessment of the hospital system.

I had to use the ED for the first time only a few weeks ago, twice within a few days of each other.

The first was for my wife, who was mauled by our neighbour's Rottweilers (which I may elaborate on at some point in the future when all the legal stuff has died down a bit). She was seen in our little local hospital first, but then patched up and sent to the much larger hospital 35km away. And even though the little local hospital did a less than perfect job, I have to say I was so impressed with how the bigger place went (she was in there a few days) that I wrote a letter of thanks. The staff were absolutely wonderful, the facilities more than adequate, but you really did have to question people's thought processes in presenting themselves to the ED. There was a guy there with toothache

Originally Posted by jx2mad

A few years ago I was taken from work to the local public hospital (Parramatta) with a kidney stone attack. I was doubled over in severe pain. Took well over an hour to see a Dr, and by that time the spasm had passed so he sent me back to work

I had renal colic ( kidney stones ) twice now, the triage nurse put be straight in , yes it's the hot twisting knife keel over pain, I was relieved by morphine straight away.

Originally Posted by sheerluck

There was a guy there with toothache

Well where do you go when most doctors have a 3 or 4 day waiting list and dentists something similar.

Locally some employers have had to change their requirements for doctor's certificates for days off as people often cannot get to see a doctor - where I last worked for under 3 days was a stat dec and over 3 days doctors cert.

Garry