A distressed mother has slammed NSW Health after her daughter, who she said has severe pain and mobility issues, was given a mattress to sleep on a hospital floor.
On Monday about 9.37pm, the woman posted a photo on social media of her daughter curled up with a teddy bear sleeping on the floor.
She said she had brought her child to a children’s hospital in Sydney where she was taken to a back room of the emergency department to sleep on a mattress.
‘She’s only had heart surgery, spinal cord surgeries (to name four of the 11 surgeries she’s had),’ she said.
‘She’s here for severe pain and mobility issues, only took eight hours to get her comfortable on this mattress, thanks.
‘No beds, no meds. But I’m grateful for a mattress, on the floor, at least, right next to a beautiful big suction bucket…. World class care right here, I think not!
‘Feel assured , it’s not just old people that NSW Health makes sleep on floors, it’s the children too.’
An hour and a half later, she updated followers to say that they had then been offered a bed but it would be with children who have viruses.
‘They offered it because of the fold down chair. I said “Can’t you bring the chair in here”,’ she said.
The mother said she was told they were ‘not supposed to’ bring the chair into the room.
‘I laughed and said “Yeah, well, kids aren’t meant to be on the floor or even sleeping in this room either so what’s the difference”,’ she said.
The woman told her followers the nurse had agreed to bring in a chair so she could also be comfortable.
‘I’m actually not unhappy we’ve been shafted in a back room. It’s dark, it’s quiet, we don’t have alarms and whistles going off making me anxious,’ she said.
‘I’m cranky and annoyed, it’s wrong that she has to be on a mattress on the floor but it could be worse.
‘She’s safe, she’s comfortable, she’s asleep, she’s medicated – late but better than nothing.’
Posting a second update on Tuesday at 10.53am, she said she and her daughter were still in the emergency department.
‘While kids go up to the ward she stays here. We briefly went to outpatients for an appointment and back here,’ she said.
‘We have pain we need to leave to see. God forbid they come see her for her pain, in (the emergency department)!’
The Daily Mail has contacted the mother and The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network via NSW Health for comment.