Have you heard the QLD Premier has been “walking a day in our shoes”? Apparently she’s been demonstrating how down with her peeps she is, by taking on everyday jobs she normally wouldn’t touch with a ten foot barge pole have a chance to partake in.
One of those jobs was shadowing a hardworking Wardsperson at a large Brisbane Hospital. Good for you Anna. Unfortunately I doubt you learned anything from that experience other than, shit these shoes are killing me and Jesus, this hospital coffee is rubbish.
To have a true hospital experience, you need to have a vested interest. You need to feel the mothers heart somersaulting in her chest because her 2 year old baby is about to endure a lumbar puncture for suspected meningitis. You need to be listening to the concerns of the surgeon who knows he cannot save the child he is operating on, because the window of opportunity to do so was missed due to red tape. You need to sit with the nurses who are abused because the systems and staffing they are working under are inadequate. Simply walking around the wards learns you nothing.
I’ve had a fair bit to do with the Gold Coast Hospital. You can read about my open letter to Anna Bligh, last year, HERE.
On Monday night, I got to unexpectedly revisit the place that at one stage, felt like my second home. I was on the computer, doing some work when Maddison, ten, already feeling a little off, lay down next to me and started to shiver uncontrollably. She was burning up, yet her hands and feet were freezing. Then I checked her tummy. Light purple rash. Oh god oh god oh god. Hospital – Stat.
I pushed her into the passager seat and started to drive. There she was dozing in and out of consciousness, there I was freaking out, seemingly getting every single red light, whilst envisioning the worst case scenario. We’ve all heard the stories. The ones where their child has gotten a cold, next thing they are on life support, fighting for their life against Meningococcal, all because Mum didn’t read the warning signs in time. Over reacting? Sure, I’m a parent. If I didn’t over react when my children get sick, I wouldn’t be breathing.
So we walk into the Emergency Department. It’s busy. Apparently Monday nights always are. We present at the window, I explain to the nurse behind the glass my concerns. She appears non-plussed. In fact the nurse behind her is making a joke about some donor eyeballs that a courier is signing in. Presumably for a corneal transplant. Some poor, yet giving soul has just donated these vital organs, and she is making jokes. Nice, real nice.
Anyway, we were directed to sit down and wait for our name to be called.
Directly next to us was a young girl, perhaps a little older than Maddison, who threw up repeatedly. Behind us was an older gentleman who more than likely was looking for a place to spend the night, equipped with his luggage. Off to the side were two brand new babies. In all the time we were there, I didn’t hear those babies cry once. There is something very unnatural about that. In between these babies, was a slightly older baby with some serious croup.
A young man, obviously related to one of the babies seriously lost his shit at the nurses. He was distressed it was taking so long for his baby to be seen to. He simply could not control his basic instinct, which was to protect and care for his little one. Granted, he should not have sworn. Sure, he should have settled down, but he was scared and perhaps not equipped to deal with his fear. He was unceremoniously turfed out by security.
There was a man who had stuck something in his eye, a guy with an obviously damaged leg and a seriously limp toddler. And a line up at the admissions window three deep at any one time.
We were there for three hours. At no stage were we seen. Nor were the babies or the child with the cough.
This to me, just doesn’t sit right. Would we all have been better off ringing an ambulance? Would this be abusing a vital service? Should we care when the alternative is this waiting room?
I guess I just can’t fathom how a child with all the signs outlined on health websites that indicate Meningococcal, wasn’t seen to immediately. I don’t understand why a system isn’t in place that sees all patients by medical staff at least within half and hour to determine the severity of each case. Clearly this would require more staff and more room. I really do hope that the Gold Coast’s new hospital currently being built, has factored this in. Somehow, I doubt it.
In fact, why wouldn’t QLD Health and/or the Federal Government make the current Gold Coast Hospital into a dedicated Childrens Hospital? Surely we are now a large enough city to warrant this?
Politicians, why is common sense so elusive to you guys?
The Gold Coast Bulletin has revealed waiting lists for specialist clinical appointments can be more than three years for routine appointments. This is absolutely unacceptable. Labor’s mismanagement of our hospitals and health care is costing lives.
The Southport Hospital site should stay as a QLD health facility and not sold off to developers for high rise. In my book it is that simple!
