Why? Glad you asked...
Lets steer clear of the gory details and say that I have a condition at the moment that required medical assistance. I went to the Doc and she put me on antibiotics and gave me a cream. A few days later and I got a little worse, went back to the Doc and she sent me off to the hospital with a letter advising them her concerns. She even recommended the hospital, she said it would have the shortest wait in emergency.
I called the flatmates to advise I was being sent to hospital and may not be home for dinner. I then called work to confirm I would not be in for a couple of days.
I was in a little shock but thought they will probably laugh it off at the hospital as some sort of reaction to some sort of chemical. One of the flatmates decided to keep me company so we piled in a cab "Western General Hospital in Footscray please"
We arrived at around 3pm and checked in at triage, the lovely triage nurse took my temperature, pulse check and symptoms run through and asked me to take a seat and he would call me when someone could see me. At around 4:30pm gate number 2 called me up and got my medicare details and again asked me to take a seat. 5pm and triage called me up to advise it may be a while. 6:15pm I was ushered into emergency and asked to take my clothes off and put on a robe in bed 19.
Now you may be thinking how aweful, what a long wait... or maybe your wondering why I have not listed a barage of complaints... During this time 4 or maybe 5 ambulances came in the back door, "code blue" was called twice and for another "possible head trauma, report to theater room 3" ... They were run off their feet.
6:30pm I sent flatmate home and said I would let him know what was happening. I sat quietly watching nurses run from one bed to the next to attend to their patients. 7pm pulse check, blood pressure and temperature. "the doctor will see you soon" 8:15pm and another system check. 8:30pm and the doctor arrives. checks my symptoms, confirms I should be admitted and instructs the nurse to start me on Iv antibiotics.
An orderly and a nurse stop outside my curtain "we're 2 nurses and a doctor down, like we can afford it" and the response "maybe we should all call in sick, at least they cant fine us then" and his response "Just vote Labor, we are"
I could not believe it, these guys were like robots with a smile, hardly stopping to take a breath.
More codes of various colors shouted over the intercom and the tired doctors and nurses answering every call with precision. I did feel a little neglected with my wait times, and with some of the comments of "where did you come from" and the hour long 5 minute waits, but I was far from going to complain.
When I had finally been moved to isolation I got a chance to thank one of the nurses for her hard work before she ran off into the maze of beds and beeps, she apologised to me for making me wait. I confirmed it was more than fine I could see it was a busy night... she said that this was a normal night, it gets busier.
Now I dont know who will be looking after the nurses in the election but I will certainly be keeping an ear out.
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