Thread: WA Hospital System

Having spent the last 3 weeks,up to 12 hours a day assisting my better half Deb I can tell you the WA public hospital system is a mess.

Firstly,hats off to the Doctors,Nursing Staff and support staff.All over worked and grossly understaffed.Did not find a nurse that I would have a bad word for,the doctors,although difficult to contact were very helpfull.

The food is a joke,no longer made by the hospital,no menu choices just diet type.Deb is vegetarian.Meals are breakfast;cereals,juice,2 bits of rubber toast,stewed fruit,acceptable.Lunch,only hot meal of the day,for Deb either sweet vegetable curry or vegie lasagna,no other choice.Although she says it tasted OK,it looked bland and smelt the same.There was always a dessert and fruit.OK but lacks imagination.All pre-pact made off-site.Dinner,Deb loves salad,but it got pretty repetitive.I must admit,they all looked good quality and smelt good.If she was lucky the soup in a mug was vegetarian so she got some.I laughed the day she said the soup was the best one yet,turned out to be mushroom.She hates mushroom.Many of the inmates we shared with over the 3 weeks couldnt get their heads around a salad dinner,most wanted the lunch/dinner swapped around.Obviusly the food arrives warmed and cant be safely kept warm for the day.

Maintence/Cleaning.DISGUSTING!!!!! The place is falling into dis-repair.Maintence issues everywhere,only saw 1 maintence man working in 3 weeks.The place is not clean,no wonder there are so many super bugs in hospitals.Many of the cleaners,all seemed to be "new australians",didnt seem to care,only did a quick wipe over.The only pair of cleaners that were very particular were a pair on older Indian men.The shower in Debs last room had mould on the tile grout,plus broken tiles.all seemed to be "new australians" The gardens in many parts were a dying mess,take an extremly ill gardener outside for a spell from the ward,not a pleasant experience.

Overcrowding.Last week in the West Australian,there was a picture of a patient with a bed in a corridor in Debs ward.In the paper the hospital said it was temporary whilst they shifted patients around.There were more that week,a nurse said they even have an education room that was full of patients awaiting ward space,the public cant see them.They discharge people too quickly for "home hospital" where nurses visit daily to administer medications,check dressings etc.I saw women who had just had back surgery sent home within 48 hours,despite begging to stay in as they would be home alone.I saw paramedics deliver patients direct to the ward,bypassing emergency,to overcome the governments "no ramping" rules.Most of the issues are a result of the governments 4 hours max in emergency unit rules.

Cigarettes/Drugs.There are signs everywhere stating NO SMOKING.Yet they dont enforce it and provide ash trays,the grounds are heavily littered with smoke butts,it seems nobody has the job of cleaning them up.Outside the entrance to the hospital is not a nice place to be at nite.Strung out druggies looking for a fix,arguments and push-shove fights,patients begging for cigarettes.There was a dealer busted whilst we were there,was a patient,had $34000 hidden in his robe,a taser and 5 grams of crystal meth.It seemed you only saw the hospital security gaurds in the "safe" areas of the hospital

Patients.You meet all kinds in there,I was astounded by the large number of rude patients treating the nurses like ****.

After 3 weeks we were so glad to see the back of the place,whilst only for a short time,its the pitts.
Andrew

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

Not much difference here in Darwin.


Our daughter is a nurse there and now they are charging the nurses to park in the car park, even tho they have a separate area from the public parking area.


Sadly I really don't think its going to get any better .




Cheers Ean

Mate i think charging anybody to park at hospital is a big load of **** for the staff your getting paid stuff all as it is then you have to pay for the privilage to go to work to feed your family you got to love how the government lets private firms run the carparks. for people visiting loved ones you are there to give support to the people in your life so why the hell should you charged for that? these parking fee's could be the difference between some familys that are struggling with money to support each other when they need it most