Deniliquin Pastoral Times

Service serves us well

Dear Editor, Yours etc. Helen Burnham Deniliquin

Recently I was taken to the emergency department of Deniliquin Hospital.

I was triaged on arrival and a doctor attended very quickly, as is always the case when an urgent situation presents.

Not all patients who present to the emergency department need to see a doctor, as they have an excellent triage system with highly qualified nursing staff.

We are very fortunate that our hospital has the facilities for CT scans, ultrasounds, Xray and pathology which provided a quick diagnosis.

I was advised that I may need to be transferred out, but this would only be done if I did not stabilise.

I did in fact stabilise and remained in Deniliquin Hospital for seven days.

The nursing and medical care was excellent; no more could have been done for me in a larger hospital.

I realise that smaller hospitals are losing services to larger regional hospitals.

The shortage of specialists and specialised staff makes it difficult for smaller communities to retain a lot of services, and restrictions are being placed on the type of treatment doctors can administer in smaller hospitals.

However, the misinformation and scaremongering perpetuated throughout our community, minimising the availability of service given at the emergency department of the hospital, is ill informed and dangerous.

Whilst we can be concerned about funding, the state of the building, reduction and removal of some services and staff shortages, we should not be suggesting that what we have is not serving our community well.

If you attend Deniliquin Hospital you will be triaged and treated by an appropriate medical professional, and only transferred out if absolutely necessary.

If you don’t see a doctor immediately it is because you don’t need to, because we now have highly qualified nurse practitioners.

If you have to wait it is because you are non-urgent, and there are more urgent patients to be attended to.

If you are an emergency case you will be glad of the triage system.

We should be proud of our hospital and the amazing job they do caring for our community.

During staff shortages and many other stumbling blocks, they continually give the best possible care.

Our doctors work together to ensure they provide 24 hour coverage at the hospital despite the overwhelming hours required to run their busy practices.

I admire and appreciate them all, as should we all.

Out & About

en-au

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

http://denipastoraltimes.pressreader.com/article/281698323114547

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