Thread: Public Hospitals, what a joke.

Private health is a bit of a joke too, my dad who passed away last week was a member for 20 plus years, the private system could not accomodate him so he had to go to Westead Public, even his specialist recommended that if he had any problems he should go there rather than a Private Hospital. All the specialist equipment is there.

The triage nurse was a Nazi though, asked what was different from yesterday, did we expect anything different from chemo.

But hats of to the staff at Westmead Pallative Care, they were a very caring & considerate bunch of people & made his last days comfortable for him.

My dealings with the public system have all been pleasant/quick ones -

1. 15mins wait when my son was running a high fever.
2. 30mins when I shattered my knee, but they were kind enough to drug me up.
3. Straight in when I nearly cut my finger off.
4. Straight in when I cut my toe off.

Maybe I am lucky?

Report her to the Hospital administrator....

I have mate of a mate died due to a Bitch like that and there is absolutly no reason for it no matter what they say.

He went in with a stomach ache and they told him to sit and wait and when he started coughing blood they gave him a tub and told him he was next up.

He didnt make it into triage....

Yes they get some idiots and agro people but I cant see you being short tempered and abusive with them specially after you had waited 2hrs already.

Report her......It may not get anything for you guys but it will make her think about how she treats people.

<SNIP>

Apologies all, I think my post was a little inappropriate.

Hope all turns out well at the doctor tomorrow.

Cheers
Simon

SAN Wahroonga for me was straight in.

Westmead kids hospital... waiting, waiting, waiting.....

Triage is just that and likewise bed numbers - if they're full then they have to redirect.

Mate you are lucky, 3hrs at lithgow hospital in any situation is a short wait, 5hrs is the record.

I waited 3hrs for a repeat prescrition for a boil on my leg. I had finished one course and the boil had gone, but another was developing (they had given me the wrong antibiotics in the first place, so it wasnt removing all the problem nasties) so given it was friday and the medical centre had closed for the weekend (not that you can get an appointment there anyway) i went in told the nurse whay i needed (my entire history was in the computer saying i had been having problems with them for ages) so they made me go through the triage crap (fair enough) then i had to wait nearly 4hrs to be seen and it took the doctor 30secs to process me.

We took marcos in cause he has pushed a cotton tip to far into his ear and it was bleeding. Triaged we sat and waited for 3.5hrs.

I could go on but this thread isnt about me, all i can say drivesafe is im hearing you mate. Matt

I sat with a mate who had torn his ACL in his knee playing basketball for 7 hours in Melbourne on a Tuesday night 15 years back - he was never admitted, got an X-Ray which showed no busted bones so they sent him home with a specialist appointment in 3 weeks time... he drove!!! back to his place in Northern Victoria and was seen on the same day by a specialist who did the surgery three days later - guess where? in Melbourne, same hospital we had been waiting in all those hours!

Sorry to hear about your plight.
Yes public Hospitals are in a frightful state here in QLD.

Perhaps we could all vote for a solution next time - no - probably accept it as the way things are!

As a previous poster said, arrive in an ambulance.
A nurse relative of mine also suggested, depending on your injury, just lie. She says, that any mention of heart pain, numbness, family history of embolism etc, is worth a few places in the que.
Equally, most staff are fully aware of the systems shortcomings and will offer good polite advice whenever they can.

Ralph

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Ambo's have to stay with their charge until the hospital accepts them into an emergency bed. You still may be waiting for hours, and probably will, but a doctor will see you pretty quickly.

The downside to this though is also that the Ambo has to stay with you until you're seen... which means they are not out on the road to help anyone else having a heartattack etc. etc. etc.

This has been a very big problem with the QLD ambos since the local government introduced a levy to give all Queenslanders ambulance cover... we then had more callouts for broken fingers etc. and once an ambulance has taken a call to a job they are not permitted to divert to a higher priority emergency