ED wait ‘ not good enough ’
Mother ’ s complaint after child waits hours in hospital with head injury .
By NCA NewsWire
A
South Australian mother was left feeling “ anxious ” and “ mad ” after her 11-year-old was forced to wait three hours in the emergency department without seeing a doctor .
Maria Stevens took her son Stephen Watkins to the Women ’ s and Children ’ s Hospital ( WCH ) after he was kneed in the face at football training .
The young boy was suffering from a headache , eye pain , dizziness and amnesia when he was seen by a triage nurse who prescribed him Panadol about 15 minutes after their arrival .
“ Straight away I felt anxious having all those other patients there and I thought about how long [ the wait ] was going to be ,” the mother told NCA NewsWire .
“ I was more concerned about him being seen because of his head injury .”
After waiting three hours , Stevens asked the nurse if they had “ missed their turn ” to be seen by a physician and told her they were still waiting for the Panadol .
She was told by the nurse that she still had “ a while to go ” before another nurse did observations on her son .
There were more than 60 children in the waiting room , where seating was inadequate and patients spilt outside , according to Stevens .
She said she spoke with a patient who travelled from the country and had waited four hours to be assessed .
Fed up with the “ chaotic , overcrowded ED ”, Stevens – who has a background in nursing – took her son home .
He was later seen by a local GP who organised X-rays and diagnosed him with a concussion and a cracked orbital bone .
Stevens described the experience as “ distressing and frightening ” and said she felt “ mad ”.
Three days after appearing in the ED , she penned a complaint letter to Health Minister Stephen Wade as well as the state opposition health spokesperson Chris Picton , who forwarded it to the WCH .
In her letter she said the care was “ not good enough for a first world health system ”.
Stevens received a phone call more than a week later from the WCH ’ s head of ED with an apology for the lack of care and they allegedly told the woman “ there were a lot of problems in the ED ” on that night .
“[ They ] said there was not enough funding from the state government to help them in order to hire more nurses and doctors ,” Stevens said .
The Adelaide mother said she wrote the letter because she wanted other South Australians to have confidence in taking their children to hospital to be properly cared for .
“ We were lucky but you don ’ t know what can happen in the future . Someone will end up dying because they ’ re left for too long in the waiting room ,” Stevens said .
“ I want the state government to give extra funding to hospitals to hire more nurses and doctors .
“ I want the state government to give extra funding to hospitals to hire more nurses and doctors .
“ They need to step up and do something because it seems it ’ s just getting worse and worse in our health department .”
Stephen ’ s concussion symptoms eased after five days and he will need to undergo more X-rays to see how the crack in his eye socket has healed .
Professor Warren Jones , from community campaign group WCH Alliance , said it was another alarming and dangerous case of neglect in an overcrowded ED .
In response to the claims , the Women ’ s and Children ’ s Hospital Network issued a statement that said all patients who presented in the ED were treated according to their clinical needs .
It said those who were most unwell were prioritised .
“ Our emergency department has busy times ; however , all patients who present at our ED will have access to the treatment they need ,” the statement read .
Picton said SA children deserved the highest quality care but due to state government cuts , staff at the WCH were under “ enormous pressure ” dealing with an “ ever-increasing workload ” with “ everdiminishing resources ”. ■
nursingreview . com . au | 3