Ashford Hospital — Local services in Adelaide

If I could give this hospital a rating of fewer than 1 star(s) I would. This hospital has atrocious standards across the board at the administrative and nursing level. I had an operation there and stayed for a number of weeks. The nurses were verbally nasty and abusive to me, any time I had to use the call bell I had to wait a minimum of 30 minutes. I tried to be empathetic as I understand that nurses in private hospitals are understaffed. In return I had nurses berate me and bully me when I filed a complaint against their behaviour to a manager. I always tried to be polite to the nurses (I honestly only expect them to perform their job professionally) - I always said please and thank you. Right before my operation (literally 5 minutes before I was scheduled to be taken down) a nurse came into my room and started yelling at me. I made a valid informal complaint about her and tried to be nice when I was but this nurse clearly took it personally. She berated me for literally 10 minutes, getting really close to me and waving her hands aggressively at me. I very clearly said to her "please leave my room" "please stop talking to me"... I asked her five separate times in five separate ways to please leave me alone and she actually outright refused like it was her right to yell at a patient like that. Totally unprofessional. I said to her "if you are not coming in here to do something clinical like take my BP and I ask you to leave that is my right and you need to leave".... and she said "no" multiple times to my requests for her to leave. She only left when a doctor came in to prepare me to the surgery. On another ward after the surgery - one nurse even said to me that "all the nurses don't like you" and their attitude to me was totally informed by the fact that I dared to complain about their unprofessional behaviour. The majority of the time I only complained if they did something that was concerning to me clinically (which was seriously and honestly quite a lot of the time, little things but little things that would effect the overall quality of your care).... e.g. one reason that I complained to the manager was because I had nurses drop my medications on the ground THREE times. One time two nurses were looking for the tablet they dropped for about 10 minutes and they groaned and said they didn't want to have to go get a new one. When they found it had clearly been stepped on, it had a visible dirt mark on it and the nurse handed it to me and he said "take it", I felt I couldn't say anything because he was so forceful. Another nurse ripped my gown off exposing my bare body without asking my permission or asking if I actually wanted any help changing gowns or if indeed I wanted to change my gown at that time of the day. Other times I've been to the hospital after the surgery the admin staff at the front desk have been abrupt, abrasive and rude. A staff member cut me off as I was trying to clarify which dep I spec needed, and she bluntly ignored me and just transferred me to the wrong department. She couldn't even transfer me, dialled the numbers into my ear twice - long pause - are you there? I had to actually tell her "this isn't working" and the 3rd time she hung up on me. Don't have enough words to tell all the horrible experiences I had. Three nurses who worked there ALL independently made this very particular face & said: "ERGH. Ashford?! That place is awful! I know what goes on there I worked there" - that sums it up accurately. If you want professional, polite service and have really basic standards about how you feel you should be treated e.g. not screamed at before surgery because a nurse takes a professional complaint personally - give this place a miss. Or if you don't want your gown taken off without your consent. I'd rather die on the street than receive treatment from the nurses and support staff here. Go to their other hospitals like Flinders Private. Sadly, the Drs (usually your private Dr who has privileges) have been good (Oh & food was CONSISTENTLY AWFUL...

My family decided to transfer our 90 year old mother (who had lost the ability to walk and had limited mobility in her hands) from QEH to Ashford Hospital, naively thinking she would receive better care in a Private Hospital. The care, or more to the point lack of care, mum received was appalling. She was treated with very little respect and was robbed of her dignity. In hindsight we should have left her in QEH.

The staff at Ashford Hospital seemed very underskilled in caring for the elderley compared to QEH and mum's mental health declined dramatically in the 3.5 weeks she spent in the Mitcham Ward. Mum's family have many grievances relating to her lack of care so I'll just mention the 3 most concerning. There was a 2 day delay in mum receiving medication for an eye infection which was causing her extreme discomfort. I was told by the hospital co-ordinator that this was due to the Pharmacy not delivering it and no-one followed it up. Mum ended up with horrific bruising on both lower legs and staff couldn't/wouldn't tell us what caused it. The door was wide open to mum's room and my niece walked in and was shocked to see her grandmother sitting naked on a chair, having just been showered, without a privacy curtain or even a towel around her.

I put in a formal complaint to the acting Director of Nursing at Ashford Hospital and was very upset to receive her responses back as they were full of lies. Further more, she refused to answer questions I had relative to the responses she had given me which couldn't possibly be factual (the response relating to mum sitting naked in a chair with the door left open and robbed of all dignity, was answered with 'your mother removed her gown due to dementia). The fact that mum had just been showered, had 2 staff members with her and, with her limited mobility wasn't even capable of removing her gown, was ignored. When I questioned her about this, together with some of her other responses, she told me not to contact her again. I sent a complaint to ACHA but sadly they just backed up the acting Director's lies; it was so disheartening.

If your elderly family member is a patient at Ashford Hospital, visit them often and, if something doesn't seem right, take photos which can be used later as evidence ( I wish mum's family had done this). The staff need to be held accountable for their actions and not have Management cover for them with lies. My hope is that one day there will be practises put in place to protect elderly patients in this hospital; sadly it will be too late for mum as she has since passed but thankfully can never be treated so...

The Worst Hospital in Adelaide! My 96yo Mother was In Pain with Fluid in her Legs and Pain in Stomach which has been Ongoing for 4 Weeks. Full Private Health cover. Ambos rang Ashford and They said to Bring her down, we have a Bed. Went To Emergency and they Took all her Info inc Credit Card Details of course and was Bed Ramped in the Hallway when the Nurse came out and said ‘Sorry, we can’t accept her, She has Dementia’?!!?? I Explained she was Non Violent, Non Wandering and can’t walk because of her legs. Second nurse comes out and Accuses the Ambos of Mis Informing them by Saying they did not tell her she had Dementia which they did. She then said ’We don’t accept Dementia Patients??? So if Someone has a Life Threatening Condition and Dying… if you have Dementia they won’t Treat you? Is that what this Hospital is Saying or the fact that she is 96 and we don’t really care? DUTY OF CARE People!!! I told this Nasty Nurse that Maybe I was Mis Informed that you told us you had a bed?? No Response? Blank Look? Second Ambo Comes in and says he wants to speak to the Dr, Dave? After a Discussion he said that he was there when The Ambos Originally Rang and Confirmed they did not say she had Dementia? So more Discussion and then Dr Says, oh…. Wrong Patient, You did say she had Dementia??? Told them they are Going to Traumatize mum by Putting her Back in The Ambulance and go Shopping for the Next Hospital but care factor 0%. RAH Ramping for 2 Hours and just been Admitted and Getting Proper care. I Would not Take my Dog To this Hospital.

My Mum Passed away 3 weeks later in RAH.

I also had a Similar Experience 10 Years ago When Losing Blood from my Bowel and was told go home, Nothing There and if it happens again, come back. So 10 min home, another bleed and back again. So, was Told we will do a Colonoscopy on Thursday, this was Sat? We will keep you here till then. So 5 days Fasting for the Procedure, No Doctor Visits and Nurses did not come near me. And I am not a Nasty Person, The Easiest Guy to get along with before People accuse me of Being Nasty and Difficult. The Coffee lady was Lovely. Enema Administered on Thursday by Trainee male nurse who told me to wait a Minute, left the room and Returned with a trained nurse who showed him how to do it to which he says… oh… this is the first time I have done this???? And you were Alone??? What?? All was fine with Results. Do Not Go To This Hospital. Ambo Guys Chris and Grant Were AWESOME!!!!! Thank You SA Ambulance Service...