Emergency Attendance

Good Day On Friday between the times 22h00 and 23h00 , we had an emergency with my Grandson aged (1 year 1 month) at home. He had a fever which was fluctuating and at a few times he went into what best could be described as CONVULGIONS . We are not medical people but his body actions showed towards that. We called the ambulance who eventually arrived and advised that we should take him to the hospital. For us this was an emergency. I am not sure from the ambulance point of view and what was communicated to the Hospital ( Garden City Hospital). Upon arrival we were taken to the emergency area. We had to complete admission forms , but he was looked at in the interim. At the Desk of admissions I personally was advised that there would be a cost of R425.00 . This was refundable to me if the patient was not going to be admitted. After he had a checkup, mum and patient were sent to a different section and said they should wait for the Doctor. Mum and Patient then proceeded to wait in the allocated room.

Looking at the time line, I am going to estimate a full hour went by while we waited to be told to go into the Medical waiting area to be seen by the doctor.

They waited and no one attended to them. At one point I informed the first nurse who Interacted with us and she was also the one who tested his sugar levels, that his fever was getting worst. The response I got was that he will be attended to soon.

After about 45min of being in the medical section waiting for the doctor, a man that was stabbed was wheel chaired into the emergency room, and he was attended to. We respect the fact that the stabbing might be receiving more priority than my grandson and his very high fever, but in our minds we view both as being just as critical being relative to the family. We also could not fully understand why there was only 1 doctor in an emergency area, one day before the week-end. This might be hospital protocol which we respect, but there should be a senior nurse to assist . I stand to be corrected on this

My grandson at that time was still not attended to.

Roughly about another 30 min went by and still we did not even get a nurse to come and look at him. That would then make it, looking at a time line . Estimated 1 hour after arrival to be sent to the Medical waiting area. 45 min went by and then the stab victim arrived. Another 30 min thereafter and still not being attended to . 2 hours and 15 min later and still not being attended to by a doctor

We were advised that the doctor was a bit delayed and would be with him soon. His fever during this time heightened, and this put us under server duress as we were not sure what was happening. Not to mention the duress my grandson was under as he was continually crying nonstop. The fact that the doctor was delayed was advised to us before the arrival of the stab victim

We had to make a decision as we were not getting any feedback on the doctor nor was my grandson being attended to. We decided to leave the emergency area based on this. This was a huge risk for my grandson but we should not be put into this type of situation to make that level of decision

I went back to the administration desk, and asked for my paid R425.00, as my grandson was not attended to at all. I was then told that he was attended to and that they were waiting for blood results. This was not true. No one attended to him in the medical waiting area. I did try and explain this , but was just told that that was a different section and all they heard was that we were waiting for blood results. SO are we basing the costs now on hearsay and not on the actual facts I was given my change, and we had to sign a RHT form. The nurse who initially saw my grandson when we just arrived said that the doctor was stabilizing, the stabbed victim and that was the reason he was held up. The question is was he was held up from the time we arrived. It should be noted that the Stab victim only arrived an estimated time of 1 hour and 45 min after our arrival

Where are we with this. The service we received can only be described as uncaring on the situation that we were experiencing. Having the admission administrator shrug his shoulders as if to say there is nothing he can do is not acceptable. In essence we paid R425.00 for having his sugar levels to be tested

I would like to see where on the System was it captured that there was blood drawn and that it was sent to the lab for testing . Being charged we were expecting, and adhered to the cost. But this cost must be linked to an action and that action must be on the system to substantiate the costing.

The cost is not what I want to highlight. My grandson’s health is far more important than that. We were not sure what was causing the fever and this put us all under stress. Not being attended to is by far the worst that could have happened to us that evening

I need also to point out that at one point we were the only people sitting in the emergency area

This matter needs to be further investigated and all our details are with the admission desk. We were also advised that the RHT form will be handed to the Matron to further address the issue.