"A poor experience"

My daughter was brought to ED SWAH with abdo pain. After assessment she was for transfer to Children’s Ward AAH, suspected appendicitis. I had to drive her to AAH in the night. She was admitted and following tests was sent home after 3 days with ongoing abdo pain, advised it was not her appendix.

When she returned home her condition showed no improvement and was reassessed by surgical  and paeds team within 24hrs. She had a further admission in SWAH children’s ward and further discharged again after a night stay with ongoing pain. She was further discharged to manage her pain at home. Her condition showed no improvement and I sought GP advice. Within 48hrs she was reassessed again and her bloods were taken then repeated. Within 2 days  with the results available she was further reassessed by GP and was commenced on antibiotics without definite diagnosis.

She became acutely unwell within 12hrs with pyrexia, rigors and acute abdo pain. Due to delay in GP OOH response I returned her to ED SWAH as she was very distressed where surgical team reassessed her in a timely manner but paeds refused to reassess her despite being asked to.

After a period of time AAH surgical team agreed to accept her for admission. Again I had to transport my daughter via car alone in the middle of the night, at no point was an ambulance transfer offered on either occasions. This is a very stressful situation with a sick child in a car and the journey takes over 1hr and half in the middle of the night.

On arrival to AAH Children’s ward we appeared to be a nuisance as we were reattenders. On the ward staff appeared annoyed as we had been readmitted. Again told it wasn’t her appendix. She had repeat USS, the surgical team reviewed her again and almost 2 weeks from her onset of pain, I was accused of not being happy until my daughter had had surgery. They scheduled her for theatre for appendectomy. She was consented her for laparoscopic or open surgery. I was left fearful of how she was going to be cared for during her surgery as they appeared unhappy with me as I advocated for my daughter as a minor. My daughter had a confirmed appendicitis on surgical finding.

When her surgery was completed the surgeon was very abrupt and when asked about her procedure they stated that they had no equipment to carry out a laparoscopic procedure in the theatre used. Staff on the ward seemed unfriendly and unapproachable. They carried out the necessary tasks required and requested but with poor attitude towards both my daughter and myself. When analgesia was requested post surgery it came with attitude as if it was a bother to the staff or if I raised concerns. The communication after surgery was poor, the consultant appeared to not know the type of surgery my daughter had and seemed just to be keen to discharge her. The nurse discharging was asked for pain relief for the long journey home and they unwillingly provided it with what I felt was a rude attitude towards myself and my daughter. Making her stay especially on the second admission a poor experience.