glittababe

Returning to UK in 3 weeks to apply for PR and sell house etc. Never thought I'd miss the good old NHS.....until today! As an A&E nurse with 11 yrs experience (good and bad) of the NHS, I took my little'en into the GP's with an open mind. The GP was spot on with diagnosis and did what i knew he was going to do......send him into A&E. This was at 10am, my little boy had been ill from 8am (10 being the first appointment)! Got littlen to A&E where we waited and waited untill a receptionist finally shuffled through and requested details. Handed over the referral letter for the doc and waited, and waited again! Time now passed 2 hrs. Eventually seen by triage nurse, obs taken but she hardly said a word - just read the referral, got up and left us in the triage room (nice and safe as drugs cupboard open). After 10 mins we got up and left the room to wait in the reception area. We waited again, littlen in agony, crying etc etc Another hour passed. Finally a dr came through to reception and ushered us into another room. He read the letter, didn't say much again despite us asking lots of questions, looked at littlen in pain and asked for for a urine specimen!!!!! What the??????? It was a simple diagnosis, very common but treatment does need to be prompt and undertaken in a hospital as it can involve surgery, the longer the condition is left, the increased liklihood of necrosis setting in leaving permanent and painful damage. Hubby and I were stunned! Despite questioning doc we got no where. We stated the facts, but the only reply we got is "everyone who comes in this dept requires a urine sample". Our thoughts were "oh god help us he doesn't know what he's doing" and we were right! No pain relief was offered despite our requests. Littlen now not only crying with the pain, but also the fact he has to do a wee and can't cos he's so stressed with the pain!!!! In the Uk I worked with some pretty crap dr's, but also a lot of good ones, what I'd give to be back there having them deal with him cos this wouldn't have happened! Littlen would be home recovering now, instead he's still in hospital suffering the consequences of such poor decision making and neglect. As a nurse you are the patient's advocate and where ever there was an incidence I felt the dr was wrong, acting too slow or just being damn right dumb, I'd tell them and get another senior opinion! All my colleagues do the same! The nurses here just sat back, a few shaking their heads but not saying anything? The department was well staffed, only a handful of patients and certainly not the stress and pressure we have to work under in the UK. There is no excuse for this poor standard of care!

scoobydoo

I hope it all gets sorted soon and little one feels better.

If you have the energy after all that make sure you complain. I am also a nurse and as you say would have ensured that the doctors were doing things as they should, and acted as an advocate for you and your son.
Best wishes to him. xxx

Ceri

I've not had a good experience of the medical service here at all, and my husband actually wanted to sue the b*ggers, I couldn't be bothered, I was just glad I still have my leg, and perfectly recovered, running /fighting fit .. just a scar now, with loss of feeling to the scar area, and an odd aching twinges in the nerves lower down when I get tired . Had I'd been able to fly back to the Uk at the time, I would have - I couldn't fly due to the lack of circulation

I can't really bother to type out my story again on the extremely bad , ignorant treatment I experienced here, so I searched for a few of my old posts, and found these two.There was another one somewhere explaining it a bit better , but I can't find it.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=leg

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=leg

Your not alone in thinking, or having a bad experience with the health services here - I haven't a good word to say about them.

I know the NHS is bad in some places in the Uk, and underfunded etc etc , but personally speaking I've never had any probs with them at all in the area I come from.

It all depends on personal experience I suppose, and different doctors, different areas, Aus and the Uk - but I have personally not got any thing good to say about them here in my personal experiences

good luck

glittababe

Thanks Ceri I thought I was alone! To make matters worst we waited hours for a surgeon (not even a paediatric one) who decided it was a 'true medical emergency', got the anesthetist down with equipment and performed op in a cubicle within the dept (complete with flapping curtains so everyone could see), transferring him to resus afterwards! The hospital is 40 mins from the Brisbane children's hospital, we'd waited so long we could have got him there and got the expertise we needed. Still angry, still upset, hubby has stayed with littlen constantly as I've had to look after other two! Amazing to think that two days ago we were snorkelling, diving and island hopping in the whitsundays! He's going to need another op to make sure it doesn't happen again, and it will definately be done in the UK even if it means we have to stay there for longer on the dreaded waiting list! For quality of care its worth it! X

Bordy

2 Hrs to see a Triage nurse. Sounds like it was a Private hospital, was it ?

Ceri

I've actually kept diaries of what happened and all my old medical notes, at the time hubby wanted to sue them ( his way of venting anger at the time), so I wrote everything down day to day.. I'm still mad about it, so I let it drop.. while hubby on the other hand wanted to go all the way - I was too angry to sue if that makes any sense, and to be honest I would have had a huge fight on my hands which hubby did not seem to understand - cases against the doctors here can go on for years, and basically you still lose even if you win, too much costs involved. you only have to look at some cases where there are some still fighting their negligence cases years and years down the track , and bankrupting themselves in the process . No point on dwelling on some things sometimes.

Good luck and I hope all goes well with your son

glittababe

Redlands Public hospital, south east Brisbane. I work at a busy A&E department in Essex, work load amazingly stressful, short staffed etc etc however the care there is spot on, considering the amount of patients through the dept we have very few complaints. Patients are in and out within 4 hrs, triage is 15mins max and prioritised properly. My littlen should have been seen and sent to theatre straight away, we ended up with a five hour delay. Its terrible. Thankfully we are returning to UK in 3 weeks so his care will be taken over there. I know there are problems in UK hospitals, some are good, others terrible but nurses and dr's are well trained and recognise a true medical emergency, surgery would never be performed in an A&E cubicle with everyone wandering in to have a good look; and for whatever reason they did have to use the cubicle (although dept empty) why transfer him to resus afterwards? If theatre not available he should have gone into resus first where they had the correct monitoring equipment plus he could have recovered in there. Even ended up texting colleagues back in UK for advice on how to handle these incomptent idiots! After all the hassel we've had in this country is it really worth complaining? Their practises won't change (I've read the disturbing but enlightening threads from Ceri). Ah well back to worrying about son!

Bordy

Sounds like you picked a beauty of a hospital Glitta. My Mrs is also an A&E nurse ihere in Melbourne & like you she says everyone is seen by the Triage nurse within 15 mins.
She worked as an agency nurse for a couple of years out here before taking perm position & said some A & E depts she wouldn't touch with a bargepole.
It hasn't helped recently either with Drs not bulk billing so they get at least half a dozen people per shift in because they think they have a cold coming on. They know they won't be charged at the A&E.
I agree the NHS had its faults but service wise it was miles ahead of Aus.

jad n rich

Yep timewasters a plenty at hospitals here, because they wont pay to see a doctor

Theres a case going on today, a doctor on a 24 hour shift, sent a 10year old girl home who later died, he had been working 20 hours already! no wonder mistakes are made, especially when half the cases in emergency are just people too tight assed to pay a doctor.

glittababe

Certainly makes you think twice about taking up a nursing post in A&E here! Just have to hope that we don't require medical assistance again while in this country! Can't wait to get littlen home. Apparently he came around from the anaesthetic and kept asking to go home, the doc reassured him he'd be back in his bed in a few days and my littlen said "no, I want to go to my home in England". Probably the drugs talking cos he knows its only 9 degrees there at the moment and he certainly won't be able to surf and snorkel in the north sea! Like you say I do pick em!!! They should have a star rating like our UK ones, I'd have avoided it then!