GOING TO HOSPITAL: PERSONAL TALES OF WOE, AND THANKS
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday December 7, 2009
JAMES, who cut his hand with a chainsaw, says he ended up spending 29 hours in the emergency department at Dubbo Base Hospital and received just one sandwich in that time.Janne relates how she ended up $4000 in debt after being diagnosed with breast cancer and choosing to use her private health insurance to cover the hospital and surgeon's bills."I was never informed that I could have had the same treatment absolutely free in Melbourne," she says.These are among the numerous personal stories of Australians' battle with the health system that appear among the 1396 submissions sent to the Federal Government's website YourHealth.A four-month-old needs to see an eye specialist, according to his parent, and they go to the Royal Children's Hospital "every day" to wait for a chance for treatment.There are some brighter stories though. James of Capertree, west of Sydney, tells how he was whisked to Penrith Hospital, then to Westmead Hospital with sirens blaring. By next morning he had undergone a bypass operation. "I could not find words and enough praise to thank all the lovely and caring doctors, nursing sisters, nurses, ambulance drivers," he writes.Such stories are part of the consultation the Prime Minister has ordered to identify and develop reforms for Australia's health system.The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission made 123 recommendations in its report published in July after assessing more than 800 submissions and holding more than 100 consultations with health experts and consumers.Since then Mr Rudd and the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, have attended many of an additional 70 consultations, mostly held in hospitals - and generating television coverage.A government spokeswoman said all the submissions were being recorded and assessed by Health Department officials.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald