Dandenong Hospital — Local services in Melbourne

UPDATE: your CT from two days ago DID find I had appendicitis. My GP has confirmed that. It’s now been two days since that scan and I have to return to hospital. Thanks a lot, you have put me and my health, both physical and mental, at risk. ————————————— 5 stars to the nurses who tried to advocate for me during my time here, 1 star to the surgeons whose lack of care I will never forget. 0 stars to the overall operation of this hospital and it’s complete lack of communication across its departments.

I have persistent dull abdominal pain next to my belly button on the right side of my abdomen and visited my GP yesterday afternoon. She sent me straight to the hospital with a note as she feared appendicitis.

Initial triage was fine; I was seen by a doctor in emergency fairly quickly. She even proactively took my bloods for me and organised my urinal sample for the nurses within the span of a few hours.

Once a surgeon was involved, the fixation became about my prior history with PCOS and ovarian cysts.

She told me she wants a gynaecologist to check me as my bloods did not indicate appendicitis.

She then said I will be able to go home, fast after 12am and return in the morning for an ultrasound.

Two hours later, I’m apparently getting a CT and need to stay. No one explained why.

I got the CT, then got escorted back into the emergency waiting room. I was called back into the imaging area twice and re-escorted back to emergency because for some reason no one was aware I’d already had the CT.

My partner and I had to approach the reception at emergency in excess of five times to find out if I can eat something yet, as I had not eaten since 11am that morning. We also needed to know if I can go home.

Finally, the original triage doctor comes out and confirms the CT showed appendicitis and I will be having surgery. I got a private room (in the osteo wing??) and got told I’m fasting from 12am and will be getting surgery in the morning.

Morning arrives, no news of surgery. I get the internal ultrasound and suffered through immense pain when pressure was placed where my appendix is, in addition to my ovaries and cervix (of which I was aware I had issues already).

After that, I was returned to my room and told a doctor will be discussing next steps with me. I am still not to eat or drink.

No doctor ever came to see me. I was in tears, stressed and anxious, hungry and thirsty, and no doctor was coming.

I became very irritable and upset, the nurses are saints for handling me with such grace.

I asked them countless times if a doctor was coming, if I was still having surgery; their surgeons were ignoring their pages and requests to come and speak with me, but were telling them not to let me eat or leave.

It got to 6pm this evening when I had to put my foot down and say the lack of care on the surgical teams end for my wellbeing as a patient was unacceptable.

Finally, a male surgeon appears. I have endometriosis and there’s nothing wrong with my appendix. When questioned about my CT and original doctors diagnosis, he was dismissive.

He said they don’t treat it and they asked their gynaecological team to visit me, which never happened, so clearly I was of no interest to them.

It seems to me that the abdominal pain I am feeling central to the right of my abdomen right where my appendix is was chalked down to “women's troubles” and none of the doctors could be bothered with my care after that.

The discharge summary makes no mention of the CT, it’s findings, the original doctors opinion and mentions only that my LEFT ovary has issues. Doesn’t even suggest that the pain on my right middle stomach could be referred pain, just outwardly ignores the reason my GP sent me there in the first place.

You starved me for a surgery you had decided I didn’t need early in the day. You kept me in the dark about everything. You didn’t even send a doctor until I snapped at your poor nurse who was not at fault whatsoever.

Just hoping I don’t wake in the night with a ruptured appendix due to...

Extremely Frustrating Experience at Dandenong Hospital

I had an incredibly disappointing and frustrating experience at Dandenong Hospital recently when my pregnant wife required urgent medical attention. The lack of coordination and communication among the staff was absolutely appalling and left us questioning the hospital's ability to provide adequate care.

Upon arriving at the hospital around midnight, the receptionist sent us to the maternity ward, where we were promptly redirected to the emergency care unit. This back and forth was not only time-consuming but also unnecessarily stressful given the urgency of the situation.

Once we reached the emergency department, we were made to wait for what seemed like an eternity. After a grueling 40 minutes of waiting, we decided to inquire about the expected waiting time to see a doctor. To our dismay, the staff did not have a clue and could only offer a vague estimation of two hours based on their system. Is this the level of efficiency and professionalism one should expect from a hospital in Australia?

The lack of information and transparency in regards to wait times was incredibly frustrating, leaving us feeling neglected and uncared for. As a concerned spouse, I had hoped for a more organized and patient-centric approach to healthcare. Instead, we were subjected to a disappointing experience that eroded our confidence in this facility.

Emergency situations demand prompt attention and clear communication, especially for expectant mothers. It is disheartening to witness such a disorganized system, especially during a potentially critical period in a woman's pregnancy. The staff at Dandenong Hospital need to address these glaring issues urgently.

Overall, my experience at Dandenong Hospital was deeply unsatisfactory. The lack of coordination, the unclear communication, and the extensive waiting times were entirely unacceptable. I strongly urge the management of Dandenong Hospital to review their protocols and implement measures to ensure seamless and efficient care for their patients, particularly in emergency situations.

As a hospital, Dandenong should represent the pinnacle of healthcare standards, but this experience left us with serious doubts. It is my sincere hope that necessary steps are taken to rectify these issues so that future patients do not have to endure the same...

I am appalled at this hospital. Specifically this incident occurred in South West Ward L4 20/02/24 around approx 5:15-5:30pm. I did not get the nurses name.

A female patient in my grandpas ward was crying, deeply distressed and in the worst mental space possible while roaming the ward hallways begging for help. The nurses continued to walk past her and ignore her. The most they would say is “go back to your room” and slam doors on her while she stood there bawling her eyes out begging for help, care and attention.

After kindly and calmly speaking and empathising with the woman, she said she does not feel safe in the hospital, wanted to leave, and speak to her specialist. Her phone was dead, she just wanted to use a phone. She said she was so distressed she just felt like dying. I said “I can see you’re really distressed and that sounds so difficult, how about we try get a nurse to come see you in your room so you can get some help”.

Then, a nurse bounds over in an extremely rude and harsh tone, and says “are you visiting this woman? Because if not you need to leave and leave her alone”. I said to this nurse that me and my family have witnessed nurses ignoring this patient for hours as she has been extremely distressed wandering the hallways desperately trying to hold her hospital gown together.

The nurse went on to argue with me, was extremely condescending, told me I was interfering with that patients treatment/care, it’s none of my business, that speaking to someone when they are distressed makes them more distressed etc. (as someone within the mental health field, I deeply disagree with that statement and sentiment). I believe that the nurses ignoring the distressed lady with no compassion re-affirmed her supposed feelings of neglect and mistreatment.

I was absolutely SHOCKED that this was the nurses response - to reprimand someone random visiting in the ward just because them and their family were concerned in regards to another patients care.

I said I would be making a complaint and then she said “that’s fine and your problem, I’ll complain about you”. I came to the ward to visit my dying grandpa and I wanted to hope so bad that he is in a place where he is being taken care of and all patients are treated with fairness, dignity, respect and attention. I left feeling shaken and with an absolute lack of comfort in...