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kelly van der hoven
#1 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 9:12:10 AM(UTC)
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Hello everyone , i've got some questions and i was wondering if someone could please give me some more information about all of this.

Im supposed to be 9 weeks pregnant by now. When i was 6 weeks pregnant i got very painful cramps in my lower back and i lost some blood. I was very worried about this so i decided to go to a hospital to see if they could help me find out if my baby is still doing ok.

I am originally from Holland and i came to south Africa about 2 years ago. I am not on medical aid and i got advised to use the government hospitals. I am married to a south African man and i stay here on a spouse permit. This was my first experience with any kind of hospital here in south Africa and i have to say... im shocked!

When i arrived at the hospital i told the nurse about my complaints and asked her where to go. She told me i had to go to the trauma unit. When i arrived there they told me i was at the wrong place and they sent me to the pregnancy unit. The pregnancy unit refused to help me ( even tho they were very friendly ) and said they can only help me when im 20 weeks pregnant. So they sent me back to the Trauma unit again , which of course still did not want to accept me there and wanted to send me back to the pregnancy unit. After coming back to the pregnancy unit they once again sent me back to the Trauma unit , this time with a security lady , who told them they had to take me in.

After finally being accepted by the trauma unit i had to wait in the waiting area till they would call my name. I waited for about 40 minutes until a lady came in SCREAMING my name all over the place. I have to say i have never seen hospital staff so unfriendly. I explained my complaints and she only took my blood pressure while swearing and screaming at me. After i told her my complaints and she took my blood pressure she asked me what i was doing at the trauma unit. I once again explained to her what is going on and why i came to the hospital. Only then she realized i was pregnant...i thought this was kind of strange , first being screamed at and apparently she never even listened to my complaints since she had no clue i was pregnant.

While all of this was going on i started to feel really bad and emotional and i started to get some tears in my eyes because i am not sure if my baby is ok or not , and i was very confused about how everything was going in the hospital. Besides that i didnt think i'd deserve to be screamed at in a situation like that. As soon as the trauma nurse saw i has tears in my eyes she started screaming even louder saying i shouldnt complain that much and im wasting her time. She was really rude and didnt really help me. She sent me back into the waiting room and told me to wait again. After 5 hours of waiting everyone was helped and checked out except for me. People who came in much later than me were being helped with no problems and i sat there for 5 hours. After 5 hours i walked back to the nurse to ask her if someone was still going to help me. She told me i shouldnt complain once again and that its better for me " to just leave ". Is this normal?

I still dont know what the status of my pregnancy is and to be very honest im not looking forward to ever go back to that hospital again. ( Kraaifontein day hospital ). Does anyone have experience with cases like this? How were you helped? Is this the attitude i can expect everywhere?
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zvikombo
#2 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 11:16:19 AM(UTC)
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Hi Kelly,

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience. Unfortunately, that is what happens at most public hospitals unless if you lucky and run into a friendly nurse.

A friend of mine was 12 weeks pregnant and she went to Coronation hospital because she was bleeding. She went there around 8 am and still at 9pm no one had attended to her. She actually left around 10pm when the bleeding stopped on its own and she never saw a doctor or a nurse...thank God it was not a miscarriage.

If you can get R200 or R250 please just visit a GP with sonar and get a check up.

Wish you all the best.
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Viv
#3 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 3:51:31 PM(UTC)
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Hi Kelly,
you dont state where you are, but you mention Kraaifontein day hospital, so I am assuming you are in Cape Town. If you can make your way to Mowbray Maternity Hospital (which is part government and part private) you would most likely get all the help you need at a very reasonable rate. The staff there are equipped to deal with your type of situation. Otherwise do try and make your way to another government hospital if you can't afford a GP as you need to get to the bottom of this and don't need to suffer like this.
Best of luck.
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Gahle
#4 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 4:42:51 PM(UTC)
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Hi Kelly,
I am sorry to hear that you got to see the ugly side of state medical care. Your case is a very good example of poor protocol by the hospital management. It is true that your pregnancy is not an obstetric case yet, as a pregnancy is only deemed viable after about 20weeks. At this time any complications are supposed to be managed by an obstetrician. Before this you are seen to be an gynecological patient. In our government setting the correct protocol would truly be that you first go to a primary health care clinic (esp on first knowledge of the pregnancy for routine bloods and screening etc). The primary clinic is then supposed to attend to you (rather urgently as you have a complication during pregnancy), then phone the gynecology department if they are not able to treat you at this level and refer you directly. (Thus you arrive in the trauma unit and a gynae doctor should attend to you immediately). However, in the case where you arrive at a hospital directly... Depending on the setup, if during working hours would normally be attended to at the Gynae Out Patients Dept - where they normally have an ultrasound in the clinic. Or (and this is where the hospital protocol should be clear) at the trauma unit your vitals and main complaint should be recorded immediately after you have opened a file and presented to the trauma unit. You will then be triaged ( which is supposed to be a set of criteria to place you in a category - either green, yellow or red). This is used by the trauma staff to know how urgently you should be attended to. Example - Red: Gunshot to the chest with an unstable pt should be seen immediately - the doctor would even be forced sometimes to leave the current patient he is busy with to stabilise this red pt. Yellow: A pt with an asthma attack - this patient needs to be attended to within 10 - 30mins (and normally the nursing staff should start the initial therapy like nebuliser). Then lastly green: A walk in patient who is completely stable with most vitals in the normal range - patient with flu or example. However this guideline is only a guideline and for instance you would most likely fall under green pt BUT with active bleeding and a positive pregnancy you should be classed as yellow (and this is done by a good nurse with good clinical knowledge of the diseased patient). In your case, I would say that you should contact the medical manager directly and let your complaint be known. Or ask for the complaint hotline telephone number. Secondly go and read the "Batho Phele Principles" - because this is what nursing care in south africa is supposed to be like. Your complaint is serious and should handled correctly. Going to a private GP defeats the whole object and principle because there is no reason why good care should not be received at government hospital setting.
This is merely a brief summary and a guideline but hopefully it will put you on the right track.
Good luck with your pregnancy and I hope you do not have any serious complications.
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Gahle
#5 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 4:46:15 PM(UTC)
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Muhammed
#6 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 5:13:16 PM(UTC)
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Hi Kelly

I am so sorry to hear about your ordeal. Unfortunately this what you described in the norm in South African government hospitals.

Bottom line is that no one deserves such ill-treatment. I advise you to forward a written complaint to the Hospital CEO and management and take the onus upon yourself to follow up on it.

All the best with your pregnancy.
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Knersvlakte
#7 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 7:14:49 PM(UTC)
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Hi Kelley
Next time write down the persons name who screamed at you and write a letter to the superintendent of the Hospital and report this person. Nobody will tolerate this. The sooner people know about the screaming nurse the better as she definitely needs some help or pshyciatric help. Or she is just doing this work for the money and not of caring for people. Was this nurse a human? Are you sure? Please also do not go to Kraaifontein again as this place does not have a good name either.
Knersvlakte
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Brentmin
#8 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 7:42:20 PM(UTC)
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I agree. Private GP's that have ultrasound can help you at relatively low cost. Please get this checked up. I wish that nurses that behave like this would be cast out of the system. They're nothing more than dogs and there is absolutely no excuse for that kind of behaviour.
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#9 Posted : Monday, October 17, 2011 8:21:47 PM(UTC)
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Sweetheart, please let us know if you and your baby are ok. I am so sorry to hear about what happened. Yip hospitals in SA is def different from the ones in Holland... I dont even have the words! Do you have the nurses name who was suppose to help you?
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Tourmaline
#11 Posted : Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:25:44 AM(UTC)
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Hi Kelly

What a terrible ordeal for you :( I'm so sorry you had to go through this and experience our country this way. Unfortunately this is how it goes at state hospitals.

Please, rather go see a GP or a gynae and try to make plans to get on a medical aid ASAP. This is not a healthy situation for you and your baby and I pray that your baby is still alright and alive and well.

If you can't get to a GP, rather try to find another hospital but I don't think it will be any different :(

Lots of hugs to you, may you recover swiftly and may you receive the help and service you deserve next time!
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kelly van der hoven
#12 Posted : Wednesday, October 19, 2011 12:57:48 PM(UTC)
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Hello everyone ,

Thank you all so much for your replies!
Your support really means alot to me.

Ofcourse i understand that i can not expect the same service as i would get in Holland. But this was not what i expected at all.

I know i should have written down the name of the nurse that " helped " me , but i hope you can all understand that i was in a very emotional and stressed out state at that point. Besides that i was mainly worried about the baby's health and my own health.

I was also not sure if this was normal or not , and that was my main reason for opening this topic here. I was not sure if i even had the right to complain about this.

But...

The hospital somehow found out i posted my story here and they called me this morning to apologize for what happened. They asked me to describe the people that helped me and she figured out who the nurse was. Besides that they made me an appointment for tomorrow and i will be helped right away.

I have to say i am very happy with this and i am surprised how social media like forums and such can actually make a difference!

So tomorrow i will know more! Once again thank you all.
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kelly van der hoven
#13 Posted : Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:36:47 PM(UTC)
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Update :

This morning , 8 o'clock , i had the new appointment at the Kraaifontijn day hospital.
My husband and i were invited to have a talk once again about what happened. The lady we spoke to was very friendly and agreed that this was not supposed to happen. She once again apologized for what happened.

After that i was taken in to get blood test , urine tests and i saw a doctor who had a proper look at me.
It was not possible at the moment to get a ultrasound at the Kraaifontijn day hospital and i got sent to the
Karl Bremer hospital and got a ultrasound there.

Good news : the baby and i are fine!!

I just wanted to place this final post here to say that the hospital solved the problems i had and they took away all my doubts and fears. I feel alot better about using their services!

All the people that helped me today were very friendly and professional. I have absolutely nothing to complain about the way i got helped today.

I have to say im very surprised and even amazed by the way the way the hospital picked up this problem and did everything they could to solve this. As far as i understand they went through quite some trouble to track me down and i think its a really good thing that they did this. Also the fact that they can honestly admit that i was not treated as i was supposed to is a sign for me that they do care about quality.

Id like to advise everyone else who has problems with the way they are treated at a hospital to find out where you can complain about the service. It does make a change! If you dont complain it will be very hard to improve their service.

I myself did not file a complaint at the hospital. I only complained at this forum , wanting to find out if more people had the same experience. I am very lucky they found out about this. I can honestly say i am very happy i did complain because they did everything in their power to solve this.

So today : good news and a new good experience !
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