One of our readers reports that, to cut a long story short, after he’d had such a severe dizziness attack that he’d called for an ambulance and been taken to this hospital, he ended up a week later, (after he’d slept the dizziness off and been discharged early the next day, and going back and having a couple of extensive tests on his heart during the next 4 or 5 days,) getting verbal advice from one of the hospitals doctors, a Dr Aravinda Thiagalingham, in a 4 or 5 minute consultation, which he’s sure is absolute rubbish. But he can’t get a second opinion because, despite repeated requests being sent by snail mail and ordinary email to Dr Thiagalingham, he won’t put anything in writing.
To us, the main point about this is that it indicates that the top management in the hospital don’t care. When our reader complained, he received this.
(That it is mentioned that our reader was “kept waiting” is a reference to the fact that Dr Thiagalingham was two hours late for his appointment!!! which, of course, further raises the question as to why his advice wasn’t, at first at least, sent by email – the reader could have waited the two hours if he wanted further information.)
But the main point is how would Denniss know whether anything was “appropriate” or not when he doesn’t know what advice our reader was given?
The fact is that if Professor Dennis, or Health Care Complaints Commissioner Dawson, or Health Minister Hazzard, or, indeed, Premier Berejiklian, cared how patients in this major hospital got on, they would be insisting that their doctors put things in writing, which would make it easy for them to know what was going on. What was done about it would be the next question.
It reminds us of the fact that Peter Drucker, the famous management writer, was always saying that it often doesn’t matter whether those in top management DO anything, so long as those under them know that those in top management know. The way in which Westmead hospital operates, it would appear that those in it’s top management don’t have a clue as to what’s going on with those under them, and the doctors under them know that they don’t know – this when it would so easy for them to know so much if they insisted on their doctors putting things in writing.
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