An Orange woman has been told she would have to rely on ambulance transport to get to a private clinic for essential scans just hours before she has urgent breast cancer surgery.
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Nursing home resident, Bev Warn, 55, has paraplegia, and needs to be lifted for all transfers.
She is facing a mastectomy at Orange hospital after being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and needed breast scans to be completed at a private clinic shortly before the operation.
Miss Warn said that when she booked an appointment with the only clinic in Orange that could perform the tests, PRP Diagnostic Imaging Orange, she was told they were not allowed to lift patients and did not have a lifting machine – putting the tests and surgery in doubt.
She said the clinic told her to book an ambulance to transfer her and provide lifting, but she said there was no guarantee an ambulance would be available when she needed it.
“With the ambulances it very much comes down to the day. They are not a taxi service,” she said.
Miss Warn said her cancer was “high grade and aggressive”.
“The anxiety and distress has been shocking,” she said.
“Without this test it [the surgery] cannot be done.
“I went to book in for this essential test and was informed by [the clinic] it cannot be done as they were not allowed to lift patients and they had no equipment to assist disabled people to transfer.
“I spent most of the day crying.
“I was shocked. I said, ‘so basically any disabled person that cannot stand on their own to get onto the table cannot have any scans of any kid there’.”
Miss Warn has opened a gofundme account to raise money for the lifting machine to help other people, though the clinic had since told her it would not be suitable for their rooms.
“It’s not about me. What about the rest of the disabled community?”
She is even considering advertising for helpers to lift her from her wheelchair.
“I don’t know how I am going to get around this, apart from advertising for two nice strong males to assist for an hour or so on the day.
“I would pay $100 per hour to each, just for simply lifting me in and out of the chair for the various stages of the test.”
Miss Wan said she had attempted to speak to her surgeon about the situation but had been unable to contact him.
PRP chief executive officer Jonathan Page said he could not comment on individual cases.
Mr Page said he believed there had been a “misunderstanding.”
“We’ve been in business in the area for 40 years and as a far as I know no one’s ever been turned away,” he said.
David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
