Appalling service at Mediclinic Midstream Paediatric unit

<p>We are extremely unhappy with the service experienced at the Mediclinic Midstream Paediatric unit on Friday, 3 June 2016. My 1 month old daughter went for a minor procedure. I would strongly recommend all parents to avoid this paediatric unit , especially Midstream residents. It may be convenient, but don't be swayed by the new infrastructure as the service is worse than that of a state hospital.</p> <p>Issues:</p> <p>1. Why did we have to be at the hospital at 10h00 if no pre-preparation was required, if it is hospital policy why was the bed not ready? We had to wait 40 minutes in the children’s play room before admitted.</p> <p>2. Why was a one month baby who has not received immunization placed in a ward with children with serious flu / bronchitis symptoms?</p> <p>3. Nursing staff looked unprepared and to be frank amateur; nurse asked my wife to complete a form that looked like it should be the nurse’s responsibility and asked us whether the baby would be there for the night – should this not have been communicated upfront with the paediatric unit?</p> <p>4. Why was she taken in her own clothes to the operating theatre? Surely she should have been dressed in a theatre gown. A minor, but her socks just went missing.</p> <p>5. When she came back the nurse just said hold her, we only found out that her whole back side (not her nappy, her whole back!!) was totally soiled 3 hours later. Why did the nursing staff not check this? This is pure negligence.</p> <p>6. We understood that the anaesthetist wanted to keep her after the operation for observation for one hour, but it was clear no one in the paediatric unit did this or really cared, no one checking-up at all. Negligence.</p> <p>7. Why was it not communicated beforehand that we should bring our own bottle steriliser / formula milk? Effectively the baby was without proper feeding for 8 hours. This is unacceptable.</p> <p>8. Why was there no nurse that could assist using the special cleft palate bottle – we were left high and dry. Is the staff not properly trained.</p> <p>9. Why did the doctor (who apparently had to attend to an emergency, but my suspicion is that we were just squeezed in between his other scheduled operations ) not communicate with the paediatric staff when to start administering pain medication for the baby upfront. We obtained the medication at the pharmacy straight after the operation, but was not sure when to start using it. It is totally unacceptable to leave a 1 month old baby without pain medication for 4 hours.</p> <p> </p> <p>We are utterly disgusted with the communication and non-service received at the paediatric unit. We would have thought as this is a new hospital the staff will go out of their way to assist. Speaking to colleagues the service we received is not the norm for a paediatric unit.</p> <p>This complaint will probably fall on deaf ears as the demand probably outstrips the supply, but mark my words I would not be surprised to read of a serious negligence case at the Midstream Paediatric unit in future if you don’t up your game soon.</p> <p>Still waiting on Sandisa Mpofu (the client experience manager) to provide a proper response to all my issues raised 4 days later. He just send me a standard e-mail of how sorry they are. Still waiting Sandisa....or don't you really care about your patient wellbeing, as long as the hospital can make as much money as possible?</p> <p> </p> <p>I don't think we should be charged a cent by the hospital of such an experience. Is this how you treat a one month old baby?</p> <p> </p> <p>Albert Scholtz</p>