Mum’s horror experience as Ipswich hospital buckles under Covid pressure

After waiting hours for an ambulance that never showed, a severely ill man was forced to lie on concrete while waiting to be treated at a South East Queensland emergency department. Read his story.

An Ipswich mother says she will never return to the Ipswich hospital after her ill son was forced to lie outside on the concrete while waiting for treatment as the emergency department struggles to keep up with the Covid-19 wave.

Karen Fields* said it was an immense task to get to the Ipswich Hospital in the first place after waiting more than an hour for an ambulance that never showed.

“It was difficult to get to emergency, there was a boom gate and we had to justify ourselves to traffic control,” she said.

“It was shocking, everyone was being herded in like cattle … it was like something in a movie.

“They had him laying outside on the concrete which isn’t okay, they really did not care at all.”

A mother has told how her son — aged in his 20s — was left lying on concrete at the Ipswich Hospital emergency department. Picture: Contributed

Mrs Fields said hospital staff mistook her son’s extreme dehydration symptoms for coronavirus and said staff treated them less than human because they weren’t vaccinated at the time — although they are now.

“He had a RAT which came back negative but they still put him in isolation at the hospital for four days,” she said.

“No one could go in and visit him; it was beyond a joke … he was locked in a room, and that room was also behind a locked door.
“He said the way they were treating him made him feel like a criminal.”

Mrs Fields said a doctor told her son’s kidneys were functioning at 17 per cent when they should have been at 70 to 80 per cent — when kidney function drops below 15 per cent it’s classified as kidney failure.

“He could have ended up on dialysis,” she said.

“I’ve lost all faith in that hospital. Nothing has changed it’s just getting worse, I’m never going back there I’m just going to have to drive further.”

One too many times Mrs Fields said the level of care at the Ipswich Hospital had let her down, no more than even when her unborn baby girl died.

“I just kept going up to the hospital because I knew something was wrong and the same doctor kept sending me home,” she said.

“My water broke and she got an infection, but the doctor told me it hadn’t and that I’d just wet myself.”

Although Mrs Fields said she just wanted a minute alone with the doctor, the Ipswich mother successfully sued the hospital for compensation.

The Queensland Times asked the Ipswich Hospital if it would like to respond to reports its ED is struggling to keep up with demand, but a West Moreton Health spokeswoman did not respond to the question.

The hospital was also asked if it was understaffed due to the pandemic, although they also declined to comment on staffing numbers.

*Karen asked The Queensland Times not to disclose her last name, so it has been changed to Fields.