Are private hospitals actually better?

We went to Louis Leipoldt emergency on 6 March at around 7:30pm because my son's temperature was 41 degrees after having given him Calpol and Nurofen about an hour prior. The first question we were asked at reception is "Do you have a medical aid card and ID?" - Not "What is wrong?"

The nurse came to take details after around 15 minutes and noted that we had given him an antibiotic, Nurofen and Calpol (not the amounts of each). At 8:15pm she took him to a room and gave him a 5ml dose of Nurofen (without telling us what he was getting) knowing that we had already given him Nurofen and Calpol. Effectively our 16kg son had now had 5ml of Calpol and 10ml of Nurofen which is more than the recommended 5ml and maximum 8ml dose for his weight.

To add to that, the bed that the nurse put him on had fresh drops of blood about the size of 10c coins on the sheet and on the blanket. Only after we told her did she change the sheets. The emergency room in general was not very clean.

At 8:55pm (almost 90 minutes after we arrived), the doctor finally came to see my son.

The emergency room was not busy at the time and there was only one other couple who had brought in their daughter just after us. We eventually left at 9:45pm after my son had had an extra dose of Nurofen, a pee in a cup and swabs of his nose.

Hardly the service you would expect from a private hospital given the ******ionate prices charged by hospitals and medical aids.