Stupid HSE
I hope none of you ever have the misfortune to have any medical ailment or accident occur to you in south Kildare - you might just die waiting for an ambulance.
My Grandmother Dalton is in the local alzheimers unit in Athy. She had a fall yesterday evening at half six and the nurses figured she had a broken leg. They phoned KDOC (our wonderfully incompetant out of hours doctor service) and between hopping between receptionist and nurse the doctor came out at eight o'clock (now if a hospital can't get a doctor then the rest of us are fucked). The K Doctor confirmed what the nurses already suspected and phoned for an ambulance. Apparently there had been a car accident and there would be a delay on the ambulance.
Now please bear in mind that as I said this woman has alzheimers and at this stage can't remember falling. At ten pm there was still no sign of an ambulance but she had been given pain relief and went to sleep. My father and my grandfather were told to go home and wait until they heard from the hospital. At 11.40pm the nurse phoned and said there had been another accident and there would be a further wait.
At 2.30am the nurse rang to say that the ambulance had finally arrived and would bring her to Naas Hospital. The A and E at this hour on a weekend night is something akin the all of Dante's circles put together and multiplied. There are scumbags, fighters, drug addicts, drunks, suicide attempters, drug addled, drunk suicide attempters...
...and one kind 76 year old mother and grandmother with alzheimers who broke her leg nine hours ago and is disorientated from being taken from her bed at 2.30 in the morning.
She had to wait longer for an x-ray while 'high priority' cases such as the aforementioned drugged up drunks were treated ahead of her and she was finally x-rayed at 5.30 am almost twelve hours after she had broken her leg.
I sincerely hope that none of you ever have an accident in Kildare and I truely hope no one you love is ever put through the indignity that my grandmother was put through yesterday and this morning.
My Grandmother Dalton is in the local alzheimers unit in Athy. She had a fall yesterday evening at half six and the nurses figured she had a broken leg. They phoned KDOC (our wonderfully incompetant out of hours doctor service) and between hopping between receptionist and nurse the doctor came out at eight o'clock (now if a hospital can't get a doctor then the rest of us are fucked). The K Doctor confirmed what the nurses already suspected and phoned for an ambulance. Apparently there had been a car accident and there would be a delay on the ambulance.
Now please bear in mind that as I said this woman has alzheimers and at this stage can't remember falling. At ten pm there was still no sign of an ambulance but she had been given pain relief and went to sleep. My father and my grandfather were told to go home and wait until they heard from the hospital. At 11.40pm the nurse phoned and said there had been another accident and there would be a further wait.
At 2.30am the nurse rang to say that the ambulance had finally arrived and would bring her to Naas Hospital. The A and E at this hour on a weekend night is something akin the all of Dante's circles put together and multiplied. There are scumbags, fighters, drug addicts, drunks, suicide attempters, drug addled, drunk suicide attempters...
...and one kind 76 year old mother and grandmother with alzheimers who broke her leg nine hours ago and is disorientated from being taken from her bed at 2.30 in the morning.
She had to wait longer for an x-ray while 'high priority' cases such as the aforementioned drugged up drunks were treated ahead of her and she was finally x-rayed at 5.30 am almost twelve hours after she had broken her leg.
I sincerely hope that none of you ever have an accident in Kildare and I truely hope no one you love is ever put through the indignity that my grandmother was put through yesterday and this morning.