Barwon Health Review

I recenrly had 3 visits to uni hospital. Sadly its the inly public one in the area. T wive by ambos and once on foot. I have multiple chronic diseases, one being life threatening, as they put it. I have several fractures if the spine and ribs that cause severe pain and my main reason for going to hosital is to help make it less painfull. Rather than increase my pain meds they tend to make me feel like a junkie and withold meds that i would have at home.
I asked the er doctor on my last cisit for help with my pain and was told he couldn’t increase it bor would he want to. He told me to wait while he consulted another student doctor and i decided to leave wanting no furrher innuenfo or making me feel like a ripoff druggie.

Not my experience but my relative. She was treated abysmally by the obstetric department. She was neglected and told very little about her situation, even though as far as I knew as a former nurse there were some problems that needed to be dealt with. Especially with her Iron. We finally advised her to see her GP in Geelong. Would not recommend this to anyone.

Stuck in a 4 bed ward with 3 males being the only female made me embarrassed and uncomfortable never again i should have not been put in this situation

After being involved in a car crash and breaking 4 ribs, I was taken to the Geelong Hospital. The staff were very friendly, attentive and caring. No question was dumb, no query ignored. While I would have preferred to not have gone to hospital (for obvious reasons!), the staff made the stay much more bearable, and enjoyable when my pain levels were under control.

Was seen in Geelong hospital yesterday afternoon 6/11/17. Couldn't be happier with the staff and their caring natures. Especially Dr Thomas Newman. Took the time to listen and made me feel heaps better about my situation. There was a nurse also but can't remember her name. Just truly amazing humans.

Had to wait 2 and half hours in emergency area to meet the doctor. 2 and half hours of pain for my mom. Unbelievable. Is there only one doctor in the hospital?????

Tonight, l feared an elderly family member was missing and l rang the Hospital. Both the lady who initially answered, and Katrina in Emergency ( Outpatients?)treated my concerns with the utmost respect and empathy. Also, when l found him later and rang back to thank them, Liz was very polite and helpful too. Thank- you all.

Could not fault any department or staff member during my recent emergency visit from the ED department through to the ward. Every person I encountered was friendly, professional and helpful and went out of their way to ensure a pleasant stay and nothing was a problem for them. A+++++

I WAS IN BAXTER 7 ISOLATION I FOUND THE NURSES SO BEAUTIFUL AND CARING. THE FOOD WAS AWESOME 3 COURSE MEAL FOR LUNCH AND TEA THE CLEANING STAFF WERE SO FRIENDLY I HATE HOSITALS WITH A PASSION BUT FOR 8 LONG DAYS I WAS LOOKED AFTER SO WELL AND BOUGHT BACK TO HEALTH SO PEOPLE WHO ARE LEAVING BAD REVIEWS I WANT TO KNOW WHY BECAUSE YOU WOULD OF GOT THE SAME CARE AND ATTENTION I DID THEY DONT SINGLE YOU OUT PERHAPS IF THE NURSES DID MAYBE YOU WERE NOT A GOOD PATIENT THEY ARE HUMAN AND HAVE A JOB TO DO AND IF YOUR NOT GOING TO LISTEN THAN WHAT CAN THE NURSE DO I LOVE THIS HOSPITAL ESPECIALLY LEVEL 7 BAXTER NURSES

Triage nurse and admin desk laughed in my face and told me you re probably just having a miscarriage love you need to wait your turn when all I said was I felt worse and was about to pass out. Actual doctors and emergency nurses were amazing though.

I have never faulted The Geelong hospital until last night. After attending a fire victims fundraiser I became ill, I have had a kidney transplant due to an Polycystic kidneys, an inherited disease. I am on numerous medications and suffer from other conditions associated with my condition. I have chronic kidney failure. I do not go to the hospital unless it is necessary. Although the triage nurse was polite as I explained how I was feeling all she asked me was " have I been overseas and had I been drinking alcohol" she never asked what medication I was on or anything else.
I was told to sit in waiting room and someone would see me.
After 20 min, feeling a little better yet very tired I realized that I was not going to be seen by a Dr.
Usually I would have been forwarded to waiting room 2.
I was still in the initial waiting area!
I decided to go home, rest and see my Dr on Monday or if my condition deteriorated I would call an ambulance.
I have realized that the emergency dept has adopted new procedures to deal with people attending emergency.
If the triage nurse THINKS you do not require to see a Dr at the hospital you are asked to wait in initial public waiting area, if she THINKS you do need to see a Dr, you are forwarded to waiting area 2, here you will see a Dr.
The intention is that you will get tired of waiting and go home. That is how I was treated!!!
When did a nurse become qualified to diagnose a person????
I am disgusted at how I was treated.
I noticed even children are now sent to a small waiting area with the intention that the parents will just go home.
WHAT HAPPENED TO DUTY OF CARE!!
WHAT HAPPENED TO PATIENTS BEING TREATED BY A DR NOT A NURSE ???
SHAME ON YOU BARWON HEALTH.

Been waiting here since last 4 hours and have been requesting them to see me but everytime they have an excuse that i am next while they have already seen the patients that came after me. Dont know what are these guys doing. Would never recommend it to person in emergency.

I can't thank enough (all the hard workers ) all the doctor's and the nurse's.
Everyone is doing such a hard work helping all the patients and everyone is so polite.
Had a big problem with my knee and straight away they helped me .Im so greatfull ..Thank you for your amazing work and Physio doctor's

The loveliest staff, simply the best care I've come across , 5 stars all the way

Worse staff ever horrible service not telling any results after 6 hrs no food or water for a day and there horribe, and they are so slow on getting back to you on things never again wast of my time coming here!

Most times it takes forever to get anywhere with answers

Took a while to be seen, but the staff were excellent working under tough conditions at times.
A shame there is no more money in State budget for this essential service!

The staff in ICU have been nothing short of brilliant.
Thank You Cherie
The care given both in and out of ICU has been wonderful.
xxTracey, Julie & David

Absolutely horrible! Had a dislocated finger and was sent by the nurse at my doctor's office to the ED here and I was never seen by a doctor only a physio and they aren't qualified to read x-rays unless a doctor already has. Finger was then shoved in a direction it didn't want to go in and roughly taped (with tape I'm allergic to as per the red hospital band) to another finger that was severely damaged. Had to go back to the doctors office for the nurse to reset my finger and bandage it properly!!

Absolute disgrace. Waited 6 days for stiches to an arm. Is now infected and still not looked at. All I was given was excuse after excuse as to why I kept getting bumped backwards. Because I'm an adult man I get treated like dirt through the waiting list. I'll send you my arm when it falls off.

i have seen hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne and I can tell you 100% Geelong hospital is much more better. Very clean, friendly staff (during daylight) care about you so much like if it's 5 star hotel. Very appreciate that i have experienced to have my treatments there. There is no difference between private or public in Geelong as they both are very good. Australia can be very proud!

Was taken there by ambulance after being hit by a car while cycling, taken there by ambulance with the lights and sirens on.

Once there I was placed in the resuscitation room, sent for a ct scan which confirmed a very nasty break in both my tibia and fibula along with a type 6 tibial plateau fracture combined with compartment syndrome. Instead of calling the chopper and flying me to the Alfred Trauma Centre after reliving the compartment syndrome they thought they could fix it there.

I am still having issues and surgery (under another surgeon and at another hospital) 18 months down the track but I believe had they flown me to the Alfred this may not be the case

Always Good Service, polite staff and a caring experience

Good staffs and doctors, friendly nurses. All you need when you get sick.

I spent 6 hours in recovery in acute pain, this should never have happened. A plan for pain should of been done based on the medications I take. This was not done. When the nurses called for a pain specialist , she did not arrive for 3 1/2 hours. Then on leaving. The pain medication normally prescribed was not. They said. My other specialist should prescribe it. They legally couldn't. WELL. Not true. They had the legal write to prescribe. My two sisters went home with this pain Med yet I was a leper so I did not get it. What f.......... B......S!!!! Other than. The nursing staff were wonderful, and pharmacy person, the girl that looks like Rosamund Pike..-exceptional. And Hanna. A big thank you

I think it's where the send all the throw back doctors in the state, the nursing staff and specialists are fantastic though.

Following surgery I'm so very grateful to everyone within in all services of University Hospital Geelong - Barwon Health facility. The HITH scheme (Hospital in the Home) is to commended on the high level of care.

All good things are under control atm just heartbroken over my ex boyfriend who I still love and adore him so much ben temple

So very thankful people / nurses like these do exist - Hard working Dedicated bunch that put up with (on a daily basis) so much utter garbage from patients and their relatives and somehow smile and get on with the challenging requirements of the Job I was blessed with their care and attention on two separate occasions , heath wing 6 and a week later bellarine 6 north for a week each time and able to observe some of the Miracles mentally and physically they perform with patients as a matter of course , so very Impressed - I Truly cannot speak highly enough of these Individuals ( characters the lot of them ) They (male and female) are simply spectacular in everything they do - I DO take my hat off to them ,......... Keith Neivandt.

Most disgusting place please if you need operation do not go here always mistakes that wreck your life. They do not know how to operate

Barwon Health Emergency was fantastic. I went in on a Sunday afternoon during school holidays and was in and out within 2 hours. The waiting time was short and was seen by an nurse for an optical issue and she was amazing! I wish I got her name, she ensured I was pain free straight away, performed all the necessary tests and sent me home with everything I d need. Could not have been more thankful and best (possible) emergency experience I ve had.

Worst hospital I ever been to rude arrogant disgusting attitude towards patients

Amazing hospital everyone was so nice and kind to me would definitely recommend

Had tendon surgery and everyone was absolutely fantastic!!! Thank you all so much, absolutely exceptional care!

The care I received here and the kindness of the staff were amazing.

You wouldn't want to be a patient that knows a little bit about your body! You would be questioning their authority!
After having really bad pneumonia twice and my body not responding to oral antibiotics and having to be admitted.went into emergency today really sick and they have records of oral antibiotics not working. After beern tachycardic and a terrible cough they wanted to send me home on oral antibiotics. I kicked up a bit of a fuss.
So your the worse patient in the world cause they cant get you in and out.
And then all the staff treat you teerible cause you actually have an opinion about the decision making of your health.
I didnt expect anymore after hiw they treated my son last year!

The staff were very helpful and caring. Great service.

Thank you all to the doctors and nurses are so supportive and caring for their patients and loved ones in the cardiology level. also the food in the cafeteria is awesome and the staff is friendly.

And i would love to give the Geelong hospital a 5 star rating but the aboriginal health liaison officers were less then supportive, caring and friendly, their attitudes and professionalism Stunk like dead fish. the Geelong Hospital or the Government need to straighten out the lack of respect regarding their aboriginal health liaison officers at the Geelong Hospital because they are not helping people at all

What a joke
My elderly Mother was addmitted for robotic surgery and told her recovery would be 3 to 4 days.
She had an abdominal pack left behind in her abdomen for 6 days before it was picked up, even though her decline in health was obvious.
Another major operation to remove it, abuse by a nurse in intensive care,
Three weeks in hospital, still emotionally traumatised by this and still recovering.
All that was offered to her was an apology and excuses.
We are South Australian and told the Victorian Health system was far better than South Australia.
I think not.

Took my 2yo after she split her eyebrow in a fall, and the service was amazing. We were seen immediately, treated, eyebrow sutured, children fed and back in the car within 3hours. In addition to all of this, the nurses watched my two sons whilst I was I the treatment room with my daughter. Have recommended the hospital to.anyone that will listen :)

Kind and friendly staff. Defiantly good qualities to have in a hospital.

Hi
My mother indra devi was admitted in barwon health hospital. The doctors and nurses are amazing. All the staff and every one working in this hospital are very nice and sincere towards their work . Because of the doctors working in barwon health my mother life was saved. Thanks to Barwon health, your help will always be remembered and appreciated .

my dad had a heart attack in February this year and our local hospital did not have the doctors to care for him because it was on the weekend so an ambulance drove him to geelong hospital the doctors and nurses where so kind and caring now he just got out after having open heart surgery there and he is recovering great

Last night Lexi from 7 east looked after my Father Charles.S. She was a god send so diligent, magnificent and so very helpful in crucial times of need. She is so empathetic and a hard gem to come by and can't thank her enough. Love your work and dedication.

All day and night in and no results send me to gp for further tests not impressed

Great hospital. Great care. Makes Saint John of God Hospital Geelong look like the second rate hospital it is. Having experienced the professionalism of Barwon Health following a botched admission at Saint John of God Hospital Geelong I cannot thank them enough.

On hold for an hour to emergency and got stuck in a loop and they never answered my call...

The emergency department is pathetic. The minimal waiting time to see a doctor is 3hrs . If you're seriously hurt or sick I suggest going elsewhere.

I had to wait 7 hours to get a certificate off a plastic doctor extremely Unorganised I woudent even give 1 star

Excellent well and truly looked after by all the staff thank you all

Worst hospital I have ever been to if i could give zero stars i would the wait time for emergency is disgusting and on a Saturday 1 nurse just waiting in line to be seen I would not ever recommend this hospital it doesnt matter what sort of pain or accident has happened to anyone you literally have to wait in a line no matter what state you are in dont ever come here it is beyond a joke! Nobody is at the front desk in emergency to even see anyone IT IS EMERGENCY doesnt that require someone to be at the desk 24/7

It's one of the best hospitals in Australia, advanced technologies to improve healthcare pathways

I found the staff very helpful and cooperative no problems.

This is for the ACCESS team not the hospital.
I called today, all I mentioned was my name and tried to tell them what I was calling for. I was cut off and redirected to an unmanned line. That line said to leave my number and they ll call back asap. That was 2:30pm. It s now 11:25pm. I m still waiting. And still in crisis which I haven t had help with thanks to these people over the past month. I m getting worse and worse. I thought that they were mental health professionals. They are not. Get rid of ACCESS. They clearly don t know how to treat patients with an acute mental illness and is highly stigmatised and judgemental. Let the frontline people you speak to be psychiatrists or psychologists.

From the first nurse who welcomed me to the last one who discharged me, every single professional I spoke to was kind, respectful and friendly. My surgeons took a recent change into consideration and adapted my planned surgery just minutes before theatre, saving me another string of appoinents. I cannot speak highly enough of the nurses, surgical team, and research professionals. Thank you for making my gynae day surgery as comfortable as possible!

I visit Andrew love Centre on a regular basis most similar to, because I was diagnosed lupus & p a syndrome is a blood clotting problem. I totally recommend Andrew love it is a rating 5 standard colour to amazing so gorgeous they put the quality of care the clients and their requirements of needs before anyone. The doctors a very well mannered and I explained and they explain things and so understands to the needs of abilities.

Some, definitely not all, nursing staff O/N failed to manage my friends medical requirements despite having all the necessary tools at their disposal...

My experience at this hospital was dreadful. We were waiting 9 hours in a room while my 5 year old daughter was throwing up and had a broken arm. When we finally got an X-ray they staff were rude and in a rush. They said there was nothing wrong and kicked us out. Would not recommend.

What happened tonight in your ED is so unbelievable that I m still trying to process the events. Around 1am my partner woke me up because his right side wouldn t stop twitching. He s an epileptic and had a major seizure only 3 days ago, so I was worried he was about to have another. I called an ambulance straight away, and followed them up to the hospital. I came into the ED waiting room and stood at the counter to see a triage nurse. The first 2 minutes, nobody was at the desk. There were multiple team members looking at me from the back of the hall behind the desk area, yet nobody came. When one did come over, I was ignored for over 3 minutes of me standing right there in front of her. No acknowledgement at all. When I tried to give her my partner s details, it seemed like such a burden to have me standing there. As I was passing on the information, my partner came out from the ward exit door into the waiting room. I d assumed that he just needed to sign something, but I was wrong. Your hospital ejected my partner into the waiting room and asked him to wait there with me and a doctor would be with us shortly to assess him. I was concerned about this since he was still twitching, but I thought since it was only a short wait, it wouldn t be so bad. For the next 4 hours we sat patiently in your waiting room, with my partner continuing to have sporadic twitching for over an hour of that time. The longer we waited, the more concerned I got. When my partner came to the desk to ask about the remaining wait time, he was told that he was next in line , but the doctor who was due to see him would have to liaise with his neurosurgeon anyway, and that wasn t possible until during the day. Essentially us waiting there was completely useless. I just want to know, WHY the hell would you let us wait for over 3 hours, and only proceed to give us that information when we asked? There was ample opportunity for the desk nurse to ask these questions as my partner first came into the waiting room, but she chose not to give a toss and couldn t be bothered. I cannot begin to tell you how angry I am with the situation. I didn t call an ambulance just for my partner to be taken into the waiting room and dumped as if he simply had the common cold. This was a very serious misjudgement on the hospital s part, and incredibly careless and reckless. It s fortunate that he didn t end up having another fit, but that doesn t excuse the disgusting behaviour and treatment of patients in your ED. As a hospital you should be ashamed of the service you provide. The decisions you choose to make can be have a huge impact on the health of your patients, and in this case, you seriously dropped the ball and let us down. I can t believe an ED like yours even functions in its current state, and I strongly suggest you fix it before the cost of negligence ends up becoming someone s life.

Thank you to the lovely staff at the ED and short stay suite for looking after me and properly diagnosing me! I felt safe, comfortable and reassured and now I m so relived I can actually get better after being sick for so long! I

At approx 0800 hours on 26/03/19 I attended at the Geelong ED in immense pain mainly from a migraine headache from hell. I reported this to the triage nurse, also the fact that my blood pressure was over 180/120 and consistently so. There was also the possibility this related to a work place injury where last week I was assaulted and copped a knee to the ribs causing at least bruised ribs and a blow to the head. I reported this to the male nurse. The nurse displayed no empathy, no compassion and blew me off to the next window where the same level of service continued, merely ticking the boxes until I was told to wait in the waiting room. Now I am not sure if the person reading this has ever suffered from a migraine but I can tell you that the noise in the waiting room especially with the construction was going on was like torture. I approached after approx an hour of waiting the blonde haired nurse at triage, asking if there was somewhere quieter I could wait. She said no, nil compassion, nil empathy and like all the other staff at the ED window that morning blew me off. I also asked approx how long and was told I was next. I managed to wait another 45 minutes before it became to much, the pain unbearable and then approached the admin staff to inform them I was going. She wanted me to wait in line to speak to the triage nurse. I said no, I am leaving. I walked in severe pain to St John of God ED where I received prompt service, compassion, a great level of care and was through getting treatment within a very short time. I have had pleasant experiences at Geelong Hospital before but unfortunately some terrible ones too and yesterday was a disgrace. I am pretty sure none of those staff adhered to your organisations values yesterday. And just for the record I did not expect preferential treatment, merely a quieter place I could sit and wait. Knowing quite well the lay out of your ED there were plenty of places, but obviously too hard for the blonde female triage nurse.

The food is disgusting and barely enough to feed an ant

ED experience with fractured leg was caring & efficient by all staff. Surgical & ward care was excellent & appropriate. PPhysio

Thank you Paramedic Jamie and partner who on Friday evening attended and took care of me all the way to the Geelong hospital, you guys were wonderful, next to the staff at the Emergency thank you with all my heart, did not want to single anybody out as they were all brilliant, although in my mind Dr Anna Davies stood out, once again thank you, we of the Geelong community is lucky to have such dedicated medical staff to look after us in time of need

Horrible nursing attitude of early morning Emergency staff. Waited for 2 hours to get checkup and another 4 hours to get the results of a blood test which the doctors said will take maximum 1 hour. My patient was in severe pain and I told the nurses several times which they didn't take seriously. Imagine a patient is vomiting continually and the staff refuses to assess you further

Could be a lot faster organising surgery having to wait 4 hours just to book a surgical date

Welcome to the Chernobyl of Australian Healthcare.
This place is beyond fixing and is a perpetual disappointment.
Everyone in Geelong should be ashamed of themselves for letting this happen to what should be first class facility.

1 year ago i had a bad experience with the maternity team and it's still upsetting me on his first birthday and probably many birthday to come, the birth was wonderful, but the way the handled us afterwards was traumatic...

After being sent immediately to emergency with my 1yr old we waited more than 3 hrs to be seen by a Dr. The Dr did not instil any confidence in us. He had no idea how to speak with us and did not listen. He did not take notes so we were forever repeating ourselves.
Finally after a further 2 hrs a consultant came to check our child who appeared to genuinely take an interest and showed some care. No treatment was given other than some medication to calm my child to conduct the same tests the first dr did but still no answers.
The amenities are filthy and dated.
The nurses are overworked and too tired to really keep up and show empathy.
The computers were failing and the line up of patients seeking assistance and triage was appalling.
We regret bringing our child in and will pay a fee to be seen at the private hospitals in future. For a University affiliated and training hospital this was appalling.

Extremely busy on Christmas Night in emergency department . Brought my daughter for a query fractured wrist . 4 hr wait and still not seen yet ! Enquirerd from nursing staff who informed us that they were only staffed with one doctor for the night . Eventually took my daughter home 4.5 hrs later without being seen. Inaccurate wait times displayed on the waiting room screens.

Just another Hospital. Boring to be an inmate, horrible to be a visitor...

It s disappointing they lied to me and said I was having severe abdominal pain, vomiting, back pain and pretty much everything else associated with IBS, because of cannabis usage. Disappointing because the staff were all so lovely, and tried to be welcoming. Turns out I have IBS, and all my symptoms were triggered by food, which I believe they were aware of based on my description of my symptoms and what I was experiencing. Lost my faith in public health, and will avoid disclosing any of that info in the future if it s going to be used against me and lead to a delayed diagnosis.
This is inhuman and almost unbelievable. Would rather I suffer with what is obviously IBS and give me the wrong diagnosis because of their own personal views on recreational drugs? Thanks for nothing

I do regret my son having to give birth to me : (
However the good thing about my husband being a chef was that: one sausage, two meatballs and a little bit of milk was enough to fill my stomach for 9 months!!!
-PS: Does anyone remember the name of the boat in the movie 'Titanic'?

Checked in tues. to remove appendix & out Wednesday. Massive thanks to all. Excellent service. Keep up the good work everyone . Tony. Mifsud

I had a shocking experience at this hospital. I went in with severe chest pain, struggling to breath and having constant asthma attacks . I waited 4 hour and still hadn t seen a doctor. My partner then went up to the desk and asked the nurse how long the wait was still going to be as I still had chest pain she then replied pretty much saying that I should just go home.

The staff at the hospital were genuinely very caring and thoughtful throughout a stressful time and did absolutely everything they could to make it as comfortable as they could. The doctors and nurses did an amazing job