A patient says he's unhappy with the level of medical care offered by Orange Health Service’s (OHS) cardiology unit after his test results were ignored for five days.
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Bathurst’s Nathan Carter has been a regular visitor to the OHS after being involved in a quad-bike accident needing surgery on his knee. After the surgery was completed, earlier this month, a complication with an infection led to another two admissions to Orange hospital. Mr Carter said he was forced to seek medical treatment at Orange's emergency department because there is not an orthopaedic specialist available in Bathurst.
“It’s either go to Orange, or you get a referral,” he said.
Soon after surgery Mr Carter’s heart rate was elevated and an echocardiogram was ordered.
“I had just come out of surgery, my heart rate was too high, and they did a test just to make sure nothing funny was going on there’,” he said.
That test revealed a shadow on Mr Carter’s heart and he said the results should have been followed up within 24 hours. However, as no follow-up had been organised, so Mr Carter's discharge was delayed.
“It wasn’t followed up for five days while I was in hospital. My concern is I’m 33, relatively young and healthy, you wouldn’t expect there to be a massive heart issue,” he said. Mr Carter questioned what would have happened if the situation had been different. “If the cardiologist couldn’t be bothered following up, you might not be speaking to me,” he said.
Mr Carter said a piccline which had been inserted to deliver anti-biotics may have caused the showdow, however he said there he no clear information about the initial test. After being discharged Mr Carter has lodged a complaint with the health service, but was told it “would be dealt with informally”.
“A previous complaint took six months to resolve which raised some serious issues,” he said. Mr Carter said since previous visit the care and treatment at Orange Health service had improved.
Orange Health Service’s general manager Catherine Nowlan said staff and management were always seeking improvement to the care provided. “Doctors at Orange Health Service order tests for patients when and as appropriate, reviewing results using respective technology,” Ms Nowlan said.
“We are always looking at ways to improve our service delivery and encourage patient feedback accordingly.”