Dysphagia treatment in 3 Thoracic surgery clinics in Melbourne

Husband went in for a minor procedure with an epidural. The admission forms were filled out accurately but once we were admitted the nursing staff did not understand what the term “ as required” meant when associated with a dosage regime even though we explained it twice politely. The senior nurse was aggressive and hostile tried to gaslight us, accused us of not knowing what we were talking about, effectively implying that we were stupid. So after the staff trying to insult, demean and belittle us, without success by the way, we foolishly assumed the matter as settled. Silly us! The next day, post surgery, a hostile nurse charged into my husband’s room and “told him off”. Unfortunately variations of the disrespectful behaviour continued. I arrived to find my husband upset, agitated and distressed. I came to the conclusion that it would be in his best interest to leave. It was a very unpleasant experience which we would not recommend to anyone. Needless to say we will never go to a St Vincent’s Hospital again! My husband felt disrespected, bullied and harassed.He was right. That is exactly what happened. Leaving resolved the problem with a minimum of fuss.

After staying overnight with my son for an Adenotonsillectomy surgery, I'm afraid to say that I was extremely disappointed with our overall experience. Although St Vincent's was not our first choice, we did not have the option of going to our preferred hospital due to the surgeons availability and the urgent nature of our request. Needless to say, I was not all that fussed initially as I have been an inpatient at many private hospitals and have never had a bad experience. However, unfortunately, St Vincent's did not live up to it's expectations and I've received better care at public hospitals over the years. For a start, the "room service" which requires the patient to phone the kitchen and place the order of their choice sounded like a fantastic idea to begin with however, they failed to advise that the kitchen won't always answer when you call and upon placing your order, there is up to a 45 minute wait to receive your meal. Too bad if your child is hungry or thirsty as we were trying to get through to them to order our breakfast for 1.5 hours with no success only to be told we could not go home until my son had something to eat - not sure how they expect that when there is no food for him to eat?! There's also no set meals so if you can't get through on the phone to place your order, you simply don't eat! Also, the food in general was of poor quality. All the "hot" meals we ordered were served cold and utterly tasteless. My son was in severe pain following the surgery and vomited during the middle of the night which warranted the call for a nurse as his bed sheets were all soiled. Whilst a nurse arrived promptly to our call for help, to clean up the mess, she simply pulled off the soiled sheets, threw a towel on the floor to cover the vomit which spilled off the bed and left the room, leaving my son to sleep in a half made bed with hardly any blankets. The next morning on our discharge day, there was only one nurse rostered on for the entire paediatric unit and she advised that her shift finished at 11am and she has to close the ward down which means all patients had to be discharged by 11am. Too bad if there were complications and your kid was required to extend their stay!! I don't blame the nurses as it's not their fault they are the only ones rostered on and the one who was, was doing her best considering. However, I am incredibly disgusted with the deplorable service provided by the hospital in general, considering we pay an arm and a leg for the best possible health care - it's a disgrace. I will never go back to that hospital and will stick to our preferred option in the future.

My son aged 6 had a Adenotonsillectomy which required an overnight stay. The Children's ward was cheerfully decorated in a dinosaur theme which also included a games area. The nurses were lovely and very thorough. We had a lovely experience. A great hospital and a fantastic Children's ward.

Treated at the old Peter Mac many years ago and it was beyond excellent. But my experience at the new Peter Mac includes a lost referral, lost history, lost blood results, lost u/s results, relevant medication information not given, existing medical conditions potentially impacted by proposed treatment not considered or discussed, and incorrect information documented that contradicts what my GP sent to them AND which contradicts reports from when I was there before!. Trying to get it sorted out - impossible.

Subjected to absolutely disgusting treatment at this hospital. Elective Surgery Manager was rude , terse and has no people skills what so ever. As expected when I lodged a request for explanation the Cancer Surgery Manager chose to disregard key facts and dismissed me completely. Patients aren’t just Medicare numbers . Avoid this hospital at all costs .

The peter mac staff are all awesome from the security and domestic staff to the teams of surgeons and nurses who helped me through the whipple procedure i had back on 15th March . I cant say thankyou enough. The ongoing post operation treatment has also been fantastic.

I don't know where to start from,I had a fall on Oct 7 2023 and ambulance took me to ED,I was attended fast and though I was high with green whistle but I can still say all the staff who attended me was very supportive. Mind it I never been to hospital in my full life. After I came out of theatre, I moved to orthopedic ward,some ward5 ..sorry don't exactly remember, but the Nursing staff there was so helpful and supportive they really tried there best,they talk positive they listen you ,understand you and took care of your dignity and privacy,after a week I moved to.plastic OMG the Nursing staff there was like an angles sorry I can't name anyone as they all were the best including an Asian uni student.what a great level of skills and patience the staff have.thank you very much all doctors and nursing staff to fix me up and taking a great care of me.will surely visit in person to pay my gratitude and to say thanks to all once am completely recovered. Wish you all a very merry x mas and a happy new year. Regards

You've been fantastic! Your positive attitude and kindness reassured my family that I was being looked after, and throughout my stay I felt I was in good hands. I am now feeling stronger, and I am feeling much more hopeful about my recovery. Kind regards, Saba

We were ask to attend for an elective planned surgery. This is a second procedure follow on from the first. The 1st admission process was smooth with minor hiccups that we overlooked because we were happy with the surgical outcome. The second procedure we were aware that we might be the 3rd listed for surgery. We were advised to attend for pre-admission procedure at 6.30 am. We did as we were told. The nurse advised us that we might be called in at 1130hrs to get ready to be taken to theatre. We waited, waited and waited and no call for theatre or a decency of an update on the delay. We attend RMH at the surgeon request which we know is best with the expert in the field here. We attended as private patient in a public system. We don't have any problem with that arrangement either. But someone who is highly anxious with heighten anxiety and a delay such as this is entirely unacceptable. It further exacerbated with such appalling poor communication. Providing the best health care does not stop at surgical outcome alone, but how the patient and the family made to feel the entire experience will be what constitutes best health care. I don't know this is a result of poor training where empathy is out of the window or complete complacency of the public system. If one were to admit to ED, with no bed within 4 hours will be a red flag. Not until we approached the reception staff we received an update. What has been a good encounter is tarnish by such lack of attention to basic courtesy of good communication. Very disappointing today.

Thursday 8th December 9.30pm to 2.30 Janice the nurse in emergency was amazing. She was kind and caring and looked after my son who was having heart problems. Thank you so much Janice! The doctor was also lovely A kind Irish man Very helpful, answering all of our questions.

my partner was taken into the ER on tuesday afternoon and spend all night and all morning wednesday there, the nurses were amazingly dutiful and took great care of both him and me. our nurse sarah went above and beyond for us and did her best to make us comfortable and keep him in the best condition possible at the time. i'm super thankful for all the nurses.

Long waits for surgeries and wait times can take over an hour for a booked appointment. A Dr or two aren’t helpful but staff do their best with the pressure and demand they are under. I have been going to this hospital since birth. They are doing more renovations so it should more upgraded within the next few years. Apart from that staff and nurses are great. Cafes and plenty of food and coffee to grab whilst you wait.

I cannot thank the wonderful people at this hospital who showed great care and understanding to my situation. They were efficient, caring and above all very professional. I cannot rate them highly enough. They deal with some very difficult people and situations and to their credit come back next shift to do it all again. They are special people who should be recognised for their effort.

The doctors and Medical staff are great and they deserve a 5 star based on my experience. However, the Hospital desperately needs to look into how their back office staff treat people. My mother was admitted as an overseas patient. When she was discharged, a lady came and asked us to go to a private area and she put some papers asking me to sign it. When I asked her what I was being asked to sign, her response was “will explain once you have signed it.” When I declined, she started getting aggressive and rude. It came to a point that I had to ask her to get a second person come in and witness what she her aggressive and pushy behaviour. Finally when a second person was present in the room, her behaviour changed to an angel. Then we went through the invoice realising that we were charged for 3 nights when mom was admitted for 2 nights only. There were other errors as well. I am writing this because I hope that this will alert private patients and they are prepared to deal with these scenarios.

I had to have an emergency surgery on the 11/11/2023. I just want to thank the Staff at the hospital for such a professional , polite and extremely well co-ordinated care from start to end . From arriving at the beginning and being interviewed by the first point of contact (nurse) and then the admin staff, both professional and friendly. When the nurse from the Emergency Department came to fetch me , she was brilliant in her care, after the Doctor saw me . She was so thorough and careful in attaching my drip for my medication . She was so careful in finding a strong vein to take my blood , and answering any questions I asked her. What an amazing nurse. The doctor was also polite and friendly and explained what needed to be done . One of the surgical team came to speak to me as well and told me exactly what the surgery was all about , also friendly and polite . They then moved me to a ward and the PSA staff member was friendly and polite. At the ward , there was a student nurse and she was so professional in her manner of asking questions and checking my Blood pressure , temperature and oxygen , she even went to find my wife a chair. When the student's shift ended , the nurse that took care of me was even more amazing , explaining what was going to happen and reassuring me , went with me to the theatre and escorted back after the surgery. Took great care in her treatment of me , with pain relief and antibiotics through my drip. I just want to say a big thank you to her. The anaesthetists were so thorough and reassuring as well as polite and friendly . Both were so willing in answering and explaining my concerns or questions I had .The anaesthetist nurse assistant was polite and friendly. The surgeon was great , helpful and friendly . Sunshine hospital is so clean and has great modern facilities and technology. Thank you so much Sunshine hospital for your great service from ALL your staff .

Yesterday, I had to have an operation at RPA. It was amazing service, and the staff were wonderful. All the nurses and doctors were fantastic, and I would like to commend them on their work and thank them again very much. Great job. Thank you 😊

The hospital is hit miss like all of NSW Health. The nurses have mental health issues so depending on which nurse you get, either you will receive good care or be subjected to abuse like having your meds not given, information not provided, details not passed to your doctors (who often review remotely so you don’t see them every day). The outsourced food is not relevant to your needs and not replaced with adequate nutrition if you have allergies etc. I saw one new father deliberately kept outside because the nurses didn’t like him then watched them laugh at the struggling new mum who was doing things without support and the nurses just watched, didn’t help her. Same with trying to get information from Doctors, they simply don’t talk to you. The information provided by the nurses is often half-truths designed to placate people not be honest with them.

I don’t know if they will see it but thank you so much to Maddie, Lisa, Eva, Greg, Todd and all of the other overworked nurses and drs who looked after me whose names I didn’t catch or couldn’t remember. I just had my appendix out and it was my first ever hospital visit and everyone was so kind and attentive. I really appreciate how hard you all work. Thank you so much ♥️

If you want to feel safe, respected and that you will recieve decent care, then don't go to this Emergency Department. The street from the car park to the ED is dark and deserted, the triage nurse was condescending and kept trying to put words int my mouth about my own pain to minimise it. The admin person was deadpan and complained that my doctor was not on their records at the same address I had for her. She kept looking at me like it was my mistake. The room seemed deliberately set up to get rid of people, the temperature was freezing cold, the television was so loud that people were having trouble hearing their name called. It also forced staff to yell names out, contributing to the excessive unreasonable amount of noise. Some poor baby was crying, clearly distressed, for half an hour (seemingly unattended) and three elderly people were left in cold uncomfortable seats that caused my body pain, so I hate to imagine their pain. And to top things off, the hand sanitiser was empty, so chances are if you touched anything, it would have germs on it. Just don't go there. Clearly they don't want you and you will be in more pain leaving than when you arrived.

The emergency staff and most of the nurses were fantastic. Once you reach the maximum subsidy they get from the commonwealth government regardless of how sick you are. You are moved to the ends of the hospital with no care or caring. I was told my private health insurance made no difference here and I should be in a private hospital. We wonder why our health system is so screwed up. This is a great indication why. I will be going private from now on. I know where my business is not wanted.

My friend was in hospital for 5 hours complaining she was unable to breathe due to a most likely respiratory infection. She got let into emergency pretty fast but then after getting a few blood tests and a cannula nothing else really happened. After the cannula, the doctor said she most likely had an infection, she asked them ‘what type of infection’ and he said ‘I don’t know, I’ve only known you for two minutes’. And then after waiting for a while, we asked another nurse if we could just get an update and she said ‘if we ask the doctors, that means they stop working’ and then opened our curtain and wouldn’t let us shut it because ‘she wouldn’t be able to see we were there’. Then after another hour we asked to leave and then the nice nurse that we liked said we could because they did all they could, when they could’ve told us that many hours ago. We still have no idea what is wrong with our friend #emo 😖

My experiences here aren't great at all. My partner had his appendix out here this year, kept cancelling his operation at 5pm then not giving him any dinner, this went on for 4 days. I was there for a scan for my pregnancy last week. Person doing it was male, and quite rude, ignored any questions I had. This morning we went again to find out our scheduled scan was already completed two weeks ago, that they had done two scans in one, so we went to have our bloods done. I'm not usually impatient ornride towards hospital staff at all, but the woman who pushed in front of us was seen first, and the phlebotomists, all 5 of them the. Left us sitting there and saw 9 other people ahead of us while we waited for over an hour, they just saw anyone else who walked in. It was so rude I eventually got up and walked out.

This is my second visit for surgery the first was a couple of years ago for a kidney stones I fasted for 3 days waiting each day for the non-existing surgery. Today I am in exactly the same position, day 2 of fasting. If you are needing emergency surgery, expect to wait, be frustrated and be hungry. PS they will give you a couple of sandwiches when the message finally comes in that the surgery will be tomorrow. Walk out get hit by a car and then you may get looked at

Alone mother with my child. We had the worse experience. Staff don't communicate, no catering for remote living transports. Indigenous just abuse the staff and ended up in our room also using their kid as a place to sleep the night. I hope to never be sent to this place again.

You will probably die before you get your waitlist surgery appointment date, unless another hospital saves you out of your misery. Stay away from this hospital as there is absolutely no compassion here!!

This was my fourth time at this hospital for post-surgery exercise, today I had two other people's records on my file. The staff member that was assigned to me, was confused because of this. I was there for my back exercise, not my hip or knee. You can only blame the Qld health office staff for this. THANK GOD I WAS NOT HAVING A OPERATION. ANOTHER MISTAKE FROM QLD HEALTH

I had a hemorrhage type stroke in the ER room after being denied the usage of Ryan's Rule, staff is extremely rude and unprofessional. Since the stroke I have been refused triage and denied medical treatment every time I attempt to present to emergency with the Doctor's very rudely telling me they aren't going to treat me and to go home during my acute medical episode which included my brain actively hemorrhaging. Have only ever received treatment when the Police have done an EEA which involved the staff drugging with me high amounts of Morphine the first time and Fentanyl the second time making me unconscious for the EEA before releasing me outside which resulted in me getting hit by a car. Incredibly disgusting behavior by an abhorrent group of staff and pathetic excuses for Nurses and Doctors.