Serious Concerns Regarding Patient Care, Communication and Dismissal of Medical Concerns

⭐ 1-Star Review – Groote Schuur Hospital Minor Emergency Unit

I am absolutely fuming after our experience at the Groote Schuur Hospital Minor Emergency Unit.

My 74-year-old father arrived with a gash to his head, and we spent over 8 hours in the unit with virtually no communication or information about what was happening. As a family member sitting there with an elderly parent who has suffered a head injury, the lack of communication was completely unacceptable.

What upset me most, however, was the way my concerns were repeatedly dismissed by the nursing staff.

My father became sleepy, which immediately concerned me given that he had sustained a head injury. I raised this concern with the nurse, expecting her, as a medical professional, to take it seriously and assess whether this was something that needed attention.

Instead, I was told, “Oh, maybe it’s past his bedtime.”

That response was incredibly dismissive. I know my father. I know what is normal for him, and I was raising a genuine concern about a change in his behaviour following a head injury.

Later, I told the nurse that he wasn’t remembering things and that this was not normal for him. I specifically explained that my father does not have dementia and that this was a noticeable change from his normal behaviour.

Again, I felt completely dismissed and ignored.

I am not a medical professional, but I shouldn’t have to be one to expect a healthcare professional to listen when the family of an elderly patient says, “This is not normal for him.” At the very least, those concerns deserved to be properly acknowledged and assessed.

And then there was the basic treatment of my father while we waited. A 74-year-old man with a head injury was left sitting on a chair for hours. When he said he was cold, he was covered with a towel. For hours, we sat there with little to no information, in an environment where nobody seemed to feel any urgency to communicate with us.

The nurses were rude and dismissive. The security staff were of little help. Nobody seemed willing to take responsibility for keeping the family informed.

I genuinely want to know: Is this what patients and families are expected to experience in a government hospital?

I understand that government hospitals are under enormous pressure. I understand that staff are overworked and that emergency departments can be extremely busy. But being busy is not an excuse for treating vulnerable, elderly patients and their families without basic compassion, dignity or communication.

These are people who have devoted their lives to saving and caring for others — and yet, when they themselves are vulnerable, this is how they are treated.

The facility may have been upgraded, but a renovated building means absolutely nothing if the standard of patient care and communication remains like this.

I deeply regret not getting the nurse’s name because I would have liked to formally identify and report the way my concerns were handled.

Patients are not numbers. Elderly people deserve dignity. Families deserve communication. And when a family member raises a genuine concern about a change in an elderly patient’s condition following a head injury, they deserve to be listened to — not dismissed.

This experience was unacceptable, deeply upsetting and frankly disgraceful.