In short:
An Adelaide woman says she spent four hours on the floor of the Noarlunga Hospital when seeking treatment for a chronic lung condition.
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she → say → condition
Ginny Chalmer, 71, attended the hospital by ambulance on Wednesday.
What's next?
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What → attend → Wednesday
SA Health has apologised to Ms Chalmer and says it will conduct a review of the matter.
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it → apologise → matter
A woman has detailed how she spent four hours on the "cold floor" of an Adelaide public hospital while seeking treatment for a lung condition, calling her experience "totally wrong".
Ginny Chalmer, 71, lives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition which causes shortness of breath and impacts her oxygen levels.
The former nurse of 10 years was diagnosed earlier this year and attended a doctor on Wednesday, when her symptoms worsened after catching a virus.
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symptoms → detail → virus
She was advised her oxygen levels were low and was sent in an ambulance to Noarlunga Hospital for further treatment.
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levels → advise → treatment
Ms Chalmer said when she arrived, she was placed in a wheelchair and taken to a waiting room where a paramedic deemed her "fit to sit" despite telling staff she thought she was not.
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she → say → staff
She said she "felt so unwell" while sitting that she made the choice to lay down on the floor.
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she → say → floor
"At first, I was just lying on the cold floor, I didn't want to make an issue about it … then a nurse came in and asked me to get up,"Ms Chalmer said.
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Chalmer → lie → me
"I said, 'no, I need to stay lying down, could you get me a blanket so I could lie on it?' and so they got me a blanket."
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they → say → blanket
Ms Chalmer said she was quickly seen by a "lovely doctor" who told her she wanted to start treatment quickly — but was told the hospital did not have any beds available to put her in.
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hospital → say → her
"They did bloods, they did nasal swabs and things like that [on the floor] — it wasn't that invasive, it just shouldn't happen," she said.
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she → do → floor
She was also "horrified" about the privacy of other patients in the waiting room after overhearing details about people's conditions and outcomes.
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She → horrify → conditions
"I just thought, 'wow, what about the confidentiality?'"
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I → think → confidentiality
Ms Chalmer said.
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Chalmer → say → ?
"Now, I know everything about this man that's actually sitting there, I just couldn't believe it was actually taking place."
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it → know → place
Health network to investigate
SA Health said it had apologised to Ms Chalmer and would undertake a review of her experience.
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it → investigate → experience
"We do not put patients on the floor for treatment," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"
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spokesperson → put → statement
On occasion, we do commence some treatment for eligible patients in the waiting room to ensure treatment can start as quickly as possible.
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treatment → commence → room
The safety of our patients and staff is a key priority, and this helps reduce the time people need to wait and reduces the time people need to stay in hospital."
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people → help → hospital
Liberal Opposition Health spokesperson Jack Batty said he was shocked to hear about Ms Chalmer's "floor care" experience and labelled it "entirely unacceptable".
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he → say → it
"Having a 71-year-old woman lying on the ground in a public waiting room for four hours, being treated … with no privacy, is totally unacceptable," he said.
"
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he → have → privacy
These sorts of conditions are absolutely disgraceful — they should never take place in a system in South Australia."
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they → take → Australia
Acting Health Minister Joe Szakacs said there was no mandate or practice "to treat people on our floors".
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Szakacs → act → floors
"The individual felt the need to lie down, that's entirely appropriate for her to choose to do," he said.
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he → feel → need
"Our nurses and doctors provide the care they have to provide, often in circumstances which are far from linear and far from easy.
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which → provide → circumstances
I think in this circumstance, the doctors and nurses involved did so in a way we should commend."
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we → think → way
Mr Szakacs said South Australia's hospital network remained busy for a number of reasons, including a lack of available aged care beds and rising presentations from flu cases.
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network → say → cases
"Nonetheless, the local health network is taking a look at this, I think that's also appropriate and where things can be improved or done differently ...
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things → take → this
[it] is always committed to doing that," he said.
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he → commit → that
He added that patient confidentiality was "non-negotiable" and would form part of the review.
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confidentiality → add → review
The Aporia