Room for improvement at hospital casualty

MY son had a seizure at 4.30pm on Saturday September 3 and an ambulance from a private company was called. The paramedics arrived and were very professional in helping him into the ambulance and on to Livingstone Hospital.

On arrival I had to open a file, which was done very cordially and efficiently, and my son was taken directly to the emergency section to be seen by the doctor in charge. The doctor saw to him straight away.

The staff on duty were great at doing their respective jobs and the section was clean.

The problem is that no blanket or pillow was supplied and luckily I had a knee blanket to cover him.

I noticed that all other patients had brought their own.

The very thin mattress was a piece of foam about 5cm thick with no cover other than a sheet.

When this was removed, the foam was full of stains from other people’s fluids and blood. Not healthy at all.

Other patients did not even have a bed and there was a mom with a small child sitting on the floor with her.

Another patient gave her her chair to sit on and hold her child. My husband then found some steps for this patient to use to sit on.

The women at the X-ray department were wonderful and managed to get my son onto the X-ray machine.

My son has cerebral palsy, and is unable to sit on his own and unable to use his legs.

The porters who accompanied us to the X-ray were very efficient at opening all the security doors en route. The security officers also did their rounds very professionally to keep us safe.

My son woke at about midnight and was hungry, and the only thing available was a vending machine with chips so he had cheese chips as a meal and a Coke as no tea was available.

No beverage was offered during his overnight in the section. I was told tea would be served at 9am, but we were discharged at around 8.30am.

The toilet was very dirty during the night, but the professional nurse attended to this as soon as I told him, which was appreciated.

On the whole, a whole new experience for us.

I hope a few changes could be made, especially the lack of beds and foam mattresses could be covered in a washable plastic and perhaps tea/coffee available at a small charge or a sandwich vending machine.

Thanks to all the doctors and staff who attended to us.