Grandma slams hospital
MARGIE Bromham believes Gladstone Hospital's treatment of her granddaughter proves it is incompetent.
Ms Bromham said her son's daughter Veronica, who lives in Gladstone, had been sickly since she was born and needed to be fed through a nasal tube 20 hours a day.
Ms Bromham said one-year-old Veronica's treatment had consisted of one error after another.
She said to start off with, the hospital told Veronica's mum Josy she was being an "over-concerned parent" and failed to keep appropriate records of Veronica's treatment.
"No one has kept records at the hospital and no one took them seriously," Ms Bromham said.
But that was not even the worst of it, Ms Bromham said.
"The hospital didn't budget for Veronica in their financial budget so she wasn't getting treated," she said.
"It is a continuous saga."
Since birth Ms Bromham said her granddaughter had been in and out of Gladstone Hospital only to be "mistreated and misdiagnosed by the treating medical staff".
The matter has been taken by her parents to higher-level medical authorities.
Ms Bromham asked if the residents of Gladstone didn't pay enough taxes to have professional health care in the public system.
"What is the problem within the Gladstone health system to allow these ongoing issues to happen to the families and its community," she said.
Dr Humphrey response
In response to Margie Bromham's claims, Gladstone Hospital's director of medical services, Dr Andy Humphrey, said staff took the parents' concerns seriously, and treated the patient in accordance with established clinical practice.
"The patient was seen by a paediatrician, who made a clinical decision about the most appropriate approach based on experience and training. The decision was made purely on clinical grounds," he said.
"The family asked for and received a second opinion from another paediatrician at the hospital. Given the family's level of concern, a decision was made to refer the patient to Brisbane for further tests as a precaution, and in order to provide added peace of mind to the family.
"A meeting was held last month where the family's concerns were listened to and taken seriously."
