Netcare Kuilsriver unprofessional staff

I was referred to Netcare KuilsRiver on Saturday 30 November 2024 for a medical emergency. I was in a lot of pain and the sisters on duty were instructed to only give me Panado's based on the assessment made by the pictures received from the referring doctor. I slept and woke up with severe pain, and I only went for the operation on Sunday morning after having spend the whole Saturday managing the pain only on Panados.

On Monday the sisters were not willing to help with basic care like as according to them they were not instructed to, even though I could not use my hand. The sisters were generally unhelpful to the patients on the floor as I also had to keep ringing the bell for their attention to attend to another patient who was unable to help herself.

On Tuesday Evening after 20:00, when calling for help, the sister came to my bed to explain that they are busy changing shifts and they will get back to me. The complaint was that there was blood flowing up into the drip, but when I asked the sister she said this was normal. About an hour later, I called another sister and she said it some happens when they insert a new needles. I told here that I was not comfortable with the way they were treating me and she just dismissed my complaint.

On the day of my second operatio, I woke up at 6:00 to get ready for theatre, but the staff were attending to a new patient. I told them that I was going in at 9:00 and they kept telling me they were busy but will get back to me. I was only able to go shower and get ready at around 8:45 when they eventually brought my items needed for theatre. Not long after entering the shower, they came to tell me that the porter is here to take me to theatre and I had to cut my shower short.

The procedure went well and the doctor cleared me to go home by the end of the day. But then it turned out that the prescription given was incomplete. We had to go back to the ward to clarify but we couldn't get hold of the doctor on his phone. The nurses again were not willing to help, so as a sick and recently discharged patient, I had to walk to the doctors office to clarify the medication. On arrival, the doctor was not there. We spent 3 hours calling and trying to find the doctor since he needed to correct the prescription. We eventually got help from the Client Liaison Officer. With her help, we managed to get another operating doctor to issue the correct prescription, but the pharmacy would not accept it over the phone. The doctor emailed the script to us but still was not accepted the pharmacy. After much more fighting and shouting to get the assistance we needed, we eventually got the medication issued.

We were then promised that the matter would be logged as a formal complaint. But we have not been communicated with since the day of being discharged.

This is a private hospital but the level of service that I received was unacceptable. Most of the shifts had one registered nurse with about four trainee nurses on duty. The standard answer that I received was "I don't know".

I went to the hospital for treatment, but I came out emotionally drained than when I went in and I can't focus on healing because of the way I was treated and continue to be threated. How can a big hospital like Netcare authorise a doctor who's contact details they don't even have and can't get hold off. The is a general sense that they are understaffed and this can be seen in the treatment that the nurses gave during my time there.