Netcare Olivedale Poor Service

Good morning

I never thought I’d be complaining and being one of those patients, I was here for a 7 day stay in September last year, and had an amazing experience.

I’m back and today is day 7, and the experience leaves a lot to be desired:

1. Food is terrible and is made cheaply, menu is awful, I have complained and this was rectified, point is you can’t expect paying patients to eat poor grade food day in a day out, I suggest your management team and whomever appointed the new caterer eat the food for a week!

2. WIFi hasn’t worked for 3 days, but Discovery medical will be billed for this. Excuse given: it’s the network, loadshedding etc.

3. Hygiene in ward: see attached photo from Room 3, section 9, shared bathroom, towels collecting on the floor, 1 towel was used by the patient next to me to clean her abscess, I asked for our bathroom to be cleaned last night - nothing! Zero regard for infection or disease control

4. Hygiene: same room: dustbin full, not emptied. Hand paper dispenser in the shared toilet has had no paper in there since I’ve been in that room

5. No consistency in patient care: some nurses are amazing and some treat you with disdain, like they are doing you a favour, sometimes meds are dispensed as per the Drs instructions or they aren’t at all. My Drs instructions yesterday was to book me for an MRI yesterday, not done, she didn’t listen and wrote down awaiting results. So Discovery will be billed for a full day of me waiting around for instructions for an MRI that never got done.

5.a: took a full day for my drip line to be changed, you wait hours for pain meds when asking. Excuse:,ward is busy. Then get more staff. Drip stops, green caps aren’t always replaced.

I’m really dissatisfied, this is a private hospital, charging premium rates, but not providing the service to match!!

I trust that my complaint will be dealt with empathy and I won’t get labelled and treated worse.

The outside smoking area is always messy and the bags of garden tree refuse has been there for days.

Is it necessary for the night nurses to make noise and talk at the top of their voices? This is a common complaint from other patients.

Thanks