Respect the elderly

Tairah Tassiem, Grassy Park

I am the daughter of Astor Petersen and Hafiza Tassiem. I accompanied my 71-year-old parents to Victoria Hospital, on Tuesday September 13.

My father was referred by our general practitioner as an urgent case of “severe infection of toe and cellulitis of leg and foot". The GP felt my father should have intravenous antibiotics.

On arrival at Victoria Hospital, at approximately 3am, we were patient but many hours passed by and only later in the morning my father was called by a male nurse who took his vitals which was worrisome as my mum accompanied him inside. I had to sit in the waiting room as only one escort was allowed with the patient.

My dad's blood pressure was 219/100; pulse rate, 97; blood sugar, +20; aand there were) ketones in his urine. The male nurse did not alert a doctor of my dad's vitals, (noted my dad’scondition as) "not so serious" and the waiting began to see a doctor.

Only around 2pm. My dad saw a fourth-year medical student who took his medical history and told him within half an hour a doctor will be seeing him. Yet again my dad was pushed in the passage nearest to the door where I could see him and my mum.

Two hours after that went by and the exhaustion on my parents' faces spoke volumes and I asked their permission (around 5pm) to go and ask at the nurses station regarding my father's medical care. I was greeted by a security guard and I explained my dad's situation since we arrived there at 3am.

I said a medical student saw my dad and I needed to know when he would be seen. I couldn't identify that particular medical student and I called my mum. She came and explained the same scenario to the security guard and he went to check a book and couldn't see my dad's name. Then he started asking unhelpful nurses.

A doctor heard our ordeal as now the medical student left and it's told to us his folder was missing.

It was like mental torture. I felt in my soul this just isn't right. My mum, white as a sheet, just said, “please you have to find my husband's folder, this is too much”.

The doctor agreed to help find my dad's folder and fetch him personally once they located his folder. Going on to 6pm my dad got to see a doctor who ran tests and treatment plans.

My observation sitting in Victoria Hospital waiting room was that they don't care much for the elderly, the baby and toddler.

Yes they have a protocol in place for how to locate the severity of cases but I believe within a decent amount of hours they could have attended to my father.

As an observer that day I saw patients and their families treated so badly by the staff.

I heard stories that are still haunting me of other relatives. As the many hours ticked by we started talking and sharing our experiences. I heard relatives verbally abusing the staff because of their treatment of their relatives.

I am writing this email to address the manner in which my father was treated. This cannot go unnoticed. We were tolerant and tried our best to make it bearable for my parents. I bought them breakfast, my youngest brother brought sandwiches and my middle brother brought us tea from home. What about those people who sat with me on that particular day the day before with no money or food? We are blessed to have a close family unit.

I'd also like to state my mum worked for the department of health for almost 40 years and my dad worked at The University of Cape Town and I worked at Groote Schuur Hospital and after that, two hospitals in the Middle East. I know all about protocols but something is seriously wrong at Victoria Hospital. My elderly parents made a contribution to this country. The elderly should be given respect.

Natalie Watlington, spokesperson for Southern Western Sub-structures, Department of Health and Wellness, responds:

We are very sorry to hear about the Tassiem family’s negative experience at Victoria Hospital.

We want to treat all our patients with care and dignity and consider this complaint in a serious light.

We will be looking into what happened and take the necessary steps to address the matter.

We thank the Tassiem Family for bringing this to our attention and will be in contact with the family to take the matter further.