We were at the hospital this week, with little Kelvin, I sat there wondering to myself, why had the hospital efficiency levels dropped?
There are elements of the hospital, that do strive to deliver top notch service, but one gets the impression that the service is in dire need of more porffessionals,
Thursday was one of those days, when the place was really busy, we had our name third on the list, yet we still took more than two hours to complete our journey through the system....
write name down on list..... Wait.....
See nurse to take temp and blood pressure..... Wait
Doctor arrives (late, about half an hour).....Wait
Get script to Pharmacy ..... Wait
Get injection from Sister ...... Wait
Get medicine ......
The group of patients waiting were increasingly restless..... only after a hospital staff member, who happened to be a patient that day went off to find out what is keeping the doctors, did a sister (who was running off her feet) inform the waiting coughing masses that the doctors had been delayed because the childrens ward had 5 patients and that they were still waiting for the aneathetist to arrive....
Everything in the place was running in slow motion, kinda like African time....
I listened to other patients, complaining, one chap in severe pain , waiting for a simple injection......... waiting..... coughing, groaning..... I watched a mother, a short lady, trying to carry her 9 year old daughter who was almost twice her mothers size.....and I thought to myself, what would have happened if the mine had just experienced an accident and two or three employees had to be rushed in ...... who would tend to them.....
I find it ironic that some smart arse decided to remove the speed bumps on 11th so that in an emergency the ambulance can get to the hospital 12 seconds quicker and then find out that the place is running in slow motion..... what a joke.....
I feel that even in these times where the mine has to understandably cut costs, that this is one institution that we , the people and employees of this mine , need to have operating at it's peak, at all times ready to expect the unexpected.......
This was a hospital that you could safely take your family to and know that you would receive the best care that was on hand, it's no wonder, there are so many folk choosing to have childbirths and other medical consultations done in foreign towns.....
So come' on, I implore the powers that be, come to the party and put this hospital of ours back on the level.....
Oh! and Gee! Shame on the place for trying to charge a little boy's mummy and extra N$350.00 because she happened to fall asleep on the bed next to her child whilst she stayed by his side throughout the night before his Appendix operation..... that same mother comforted another little girls, who was in the ward, who had no parents to look after her.... Shame ! Shame ! Shame!
Just my 2 cents...
ps.... please note, that I am not knocking the staff at the hospital, all three of my kids were born here and both my parents left this world there..... so I am eternally bound to this building..... I just feel that somebody capable of grabbing the reins should be appointed to manage the place and that the company should once again be able to price itself in this establishment.....
msn emoticon (224)
What I find difficult to understand Michael that if you have a hospital appointment say for around 1:30pm. then why is it that you have to wait an hour and a half to two hours before they see you. It has been explained to me on many occasions that they block book patients allowing each patient 15 to 20 minuets.... So if the doctor finishes the consultation under this time then he would be sitting around twiddling his fingers.... And I say 'Bullsh**' An appointment here means at least a two hour wait, mind you that's in the public hospital system if you go private then a 1:30 appointment means that.......................................(http://www.thescifiworld.net/img/layout/logo_doctorwho.gif)
@Frank, I refer to the Clinic in this case, Doctors these days don't seem to hang around long in Omund any longer...
(http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/images/getwellchad.gif)
'Yep' it seems that way in out of major city areas,.... we have two decent hospitals in this area and three private hospitals on a smaller scale but its taken nearly two and a half years to attract a urologists after the last one retired. Its a four hour drive to the Big City Hospitals from here.
This is interesting to myself here,.........when I first came to Maryborough and Hervey Bay 30 years ago my youngest son had to be admitted with appendix problems the doctor that removed the said problem was from South Africa his name (might have mentioned this before in a post) Dr Veruthaslam Padayachey and a very good general surgeon this is a link below you will have to pop it into your URL. address
Dr Veruthaslam Padayachey - ABC Brisbane - Australian Broadcasting ...
msn emoticon (224)
Talking of cost saving....Get rid of the nurse. Let the doctor take temp & blood pressure and give injection....
Company will save a lot of money and we don't have to go through all this red tape to get treatment. (We have to pay the price for job creation.)
The other matter is that doctors here earn a salary. Does not matter if they see one, one hundred people a day. He gets payed.
I say, pay them for each case treated. Then you will see some lubrication in this very very dry gearwork......
My 2 cents..... meanpuff
@ Mike, I don't think its just now that the hopital is going a bit "back wards". It has been like that since my 2 boys were born, and yes they both were born at Oranjemund hospital, but we also had situations, where we had to go in at night, and then come back in the morning, just because they weren't compitent (willing?) enough to help us, eventually bursting into the chiefs office and only then we got service.
Had a situation with Enrico my oldest, running fever, not eating, and they couldn't figure out what was wrong, eventually after admitting him twice and putting our poor boy on a drip (14 months) myself and hubby came to the conclution that he had teething and measels fever, which made it so much worse. Dr came in the next morning and confirmed that he indeed had mealsels. I also wanted to sleep, but was told that I'm not allowed to lay on the bed(s), nor was I allowed to bring in a strecher from home or bedding 164, telling me that they are more than cappable to look after the kids, yeah maybe, but when a child is ill he/she wants his mommy and not some stranger by his side. I think they are a bit unfair. Maybe I should have become a doc...lol
I agree with Charles, let them get paid as per patients they see. Not only will they really pull their fingers out of their arse but you will see a radical change.
Somebody emailed me, just to point out that the GRN (gov) Clinic also battles , as their doctor is based in Luderitz and gets to come to town once a month, meanwhile to poor sick sods have to place their names on a waiting list that extends into days....
The person who sent me the email, was wondering if there might be any retired doctors out there who might have liked to buy a house in Omund and retire down here, thus giving the general population further depth for medical assistance..
A similar notion might be applicable for a a retired vet to move to town, as the current "fly in" vet is becoming a tad expensive for the locals.......
So if anyone out there knows any retired professionals who might enjoy the quiet life, please send them in this direction...
msn emoticon (224)
Cheleen Koekemoer!...... Hello to you and yours, the situation you described reminds me when my niece had Harry (he is two years old now) they live in Coomara on the gold coast. Harry was born on the kitchen floor delivered by his father Steven, they live 35 minuets from the gold coast hospital and understandably the ambulance was late..... Mum was Quick!.... Mum and the Bub were taken to the hospital but later on in the day there were complications. Harry had to be transferred to the Brisbane's Mater children's hospital, Harry was kept there over four nights. The point is Mum or Dad were able to stay there with their child, there was a bed for a parent, not all the children that attend this hospital were as young as Harry, so it makes sense for a parent to be there with their child................................Cheleen from Diamonds to Gold not bad........................ image04