Father forced to retrieve own pillow for son after RAH offer warm towels as an alternative for his overnight stay

The frustrated parent says his sick child was told other RAH patients had been comfortable with warm towels in place of pillows as he awaited surgery.

The health minister has denied the state’s flag ship hospital has a pillow shortage after a frustrated parent said he was forced into a late night bedding run for his son.

The father criticised the RAH on social media, claiming his son was offered “warm towels” instead of a pillow during an overnight stay.

But Health Minister Chris Picton said the hospital did not have a bedding shortage, but was following up on the allocations of internal supplies.

“We need to make sure that those hospital systems internally are getting those supplies where they need to go,” he said.

His statement comes after father Robert Sordillo said his son was preparing to stay at the hospital on Sunday night in readiness for appendix surgery the following morning when he was told by staff they would be “unable to supply a bed pillow”.

Robert Sodillo said he was forced to rush home at night to collect his own pillow for his sick child. Picture: Facebook

In a post to social media on Monday night, Mr Sordillo said he was forced to drive home at midnight to retrieve a pillow for his son.

“They could not supply him with a bed pillow to sleep on, instead he was offered warm towels ‘as that is what other patients liked in the past,’” he said.

“I had to drive home at midnight to go and get my son a pillow! Let’s hope they don’t need me to supply the surgical equipment in the morning.”

He said the hospital should “be ashamed”.

“Not blaming the staff, not their fault this world class hospital ran out of money to buy pillows,” he said.

It comes just a month after the United Workers Union claimed dirty linen was causing a bed shortage in South Australian hospitals.

Opposition shadow minister Ashton Hurn said the latest incident highlighted the shortages in the health system.

“If patients are now forced to BYO bedding it is an extremely alarming development in respect to the comfort of sick patients, or critically, infection control within our hospitals,” Ms Hurn said.

Royal Adelaide Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

“When South Australians go to one of our hospitals for urgent surgery or the emergency department, the last thing they should be worrying about is whether they need to bring their own pillows and sheets.”

She said Premier Peter Malinauskas needed to step in and provide additional support.

At a press conference on Thursday morning, Mr Malinauskas said he was not aware of the incident involving the RAH.

“What I would say more broadly, is all of our major hospitals strive for world’s best practice and largely deliver it,” he said.

“We want to make sure that all of the amenities are in place to ensure that a patient’s experience is a positive one.”