‘Quite degrading’: Brisbane hospital told woman to use toilet paper after getting her period

As a hospital service comes under fire for not supplying women’s sanitary products, one woman has shared her ordeal.

The Prince Charles Hospital at Brisbane's Chermside

A woman was left feeling “degraded” after a major hospital in Brisbane’s north told her to bundle up toilet paper after her period came early ahead of surgery.

After Metro North Hospital and Health Service was criticised for not providing sanitary products for women rushed to hospital, Patrice Lund, 36, shared her 2019 experience at The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside.

She said had been booked in for a wrist operation, and didn’t realise she had her period until an hour before the day surgery.

“I was in a bit of a panic and went to see the admin ladies, they said the hospital didn’t stock anything – I laughed because I thought ‘that has got to be a joke’,” Ms Lund said.

“When I saw the nurse pre-surgery, she gave me the see-through surgery undies – she went to look for adult incontinence diapers, but she couldn’t even find an adult diaper.

“She (the nurse) said I would need to go to the bathroom to put on the surgical underwear and ‘put toilet paper down’.”

A Metro North spokeswoman said although she was unable to comment on specific incidents, “it is standard practice to provide patients with sanitary products or an alternative if required”.

“Patients are encouraged and reminded to bring their own toiletries when visiting the hospital, as an inpatient or for day surgery,” she said.

Patrice Lund has spoken of her ordeal at The Prince Charles Hospital.

“The Prince Charles Hospital does not provide obstetric or gynaecological services where these products would be routinely available, however these products and other toiletries can be purchased from the on-site store at the hospital.”

Ms Lund said pre-surgery, the only thing on her mind, with a male nurse and male surgeon in the room, was, “When I wake up am I going to be leaking everywhere?”

“I was so anxious knowing at any point I could bleed through the toilet paper, through the see-through undies and on to the bed,” she said.

Ms Lund said she was told by admin staff that because there was no maternity ward at the hospital there was no stock of sanitary items.

“But there’s so much more at play – it really shouldn’t matter whether you have a gynaecology department or not because there are plenty of trans folk out there who need surgery, and what if they are in that position?” she said.

“There’s plenty of people in this world who menstruate, and it should be no different to ordering toilet paper, hand sanitiser or face masks – in my opinion it should just be standard for any hospital or medical practice to have that on hand at all times.

“I was more shocked than anything that no one in a hospital could provide me with a pad.”

Ms Lund said the whole situation felt “quite degrading”.

“No one said ‘oh we have got a shop downstairs would you like us to go down and get a packet for you’ ,but I guarantee you if a man bled five to seven days a month, every month that wouldn’t be a conversation we are having,” she said.

“It just shows you no matter how far we come with equality, we still have so far to go.”