I spent five days in hospital waiting for an MRI. WA’s health system is at breaking point

It was on day four of trying to get an MRI as an inpatient at Fiona Stanley Hospital that one of my nurses broke down in tears in my cubicle.

“How can I advocate for my patients in this system? When I have no power to help?” she told me crying, apologising again for the situation I found myself in.

WA Greens health spokesperson Sophie McNeill in Fiona Stanley Hospital.

I had never appreciated MRIs until last week. A mad Dockers fan, MRIs were something I only thought about when I was worried about Josh Treacy’s knee or Sonny Walter’s hamstring.

And while AFL players get them at the drop of a hat, I had no idea that for the rest of us it was no easy task.

After five weeks of unusual dizziness and pounding headaches, with nothing showing up on a CT scan or in my bloods, my GP decided last Friday that he was worried and wanted me to get an MRI.

Knowing that it can take weeks to get into a private clinic, he sent me to Fiona Stanley hospital last Friday at 2pm. Finally, after nearly seven long hours in the ED waiting room, I was admitted for observation and further testing.

The first moment I interacted with the doctors and nurses at FSH, I was treated with incredible, exemplary care; from the warm, caring nurse who took my blood pressure and made me a cup of tea at 3am in the morning after I was finally put in a bed, to the registrar who arrived at my room hours and hours after she was due to come, but who patiently went through everything diligently, kindly and carefully.

But it was bleeding obvious that nearly every one of them was under the pump, under-resourced and completely overwhelmed by the demand they faced.

With the neurology team deciding I shouldn’t be discharged until I had an MRI, I was placed in the Short Stay Acute Medical Unit – essentially a large room with 12 beds with nothing separating us but a paper-thin curtain.

It was akin to sleeping in a zoo with lights, buttons and beeping coming on at all hours of the day and night.

The nurses and doctors did not get a moment’s rest, constantly being pulled from one bed to the other, with nearly every one of them staying on after their shift was supposed to end, because there was just so much to do.

“With the incredible wealth that this state generates, our medical heroes shouldn’t be forced to work under such stress.”

After three nights there, with no sleep and continuing symptoms, I was feeling worse than ever on Monday morning but thrilled at the prospect of finally getting the MRI.

But by 2pm, more than three days after I had first arrived, the nurses told me it was just not going to happen today.

“We are absolutely slammed,” said the nurse in my cubicle crying after telling me the MRI was delayed again.

“Half our nursing staff have anxiety and depression. The workload is so intense. I have seen so many of my colleagues leave nursing because they just can’t take it anymore.”

One of my doctors expressed exasperation at the daily pressure he and his colleagues were under, as the hospital sat constantly on the verge of breaking point.

“This hospital was designed before the massive population boom we’ve seen in Perth,” he told me.

“It’s madness. Fremantle Hospital emergency should never have been closed.”

Deeply apologetic at how long it was taking to get an MRI, by late Monday one of the registrars went online to try and find a private service he could refer me to.

We found one in Rockingham, and after my fourth sleepless night in the short stay zoo, I was given leave from the nurses for my husband to pick me up, drive me to Rockingham, get the MRI, before returning to Fiona Stanley where I had to stay another night in order to see a specialist team.

I am still processing the MRI results – and I really wish it hadn’t taken so long to get them.

And while I have immense gratitude for the incredible care I received from the heroic staff in our public health system, I’m deeply worried about them.

The workload I witnessed them carry over my five days in Fiona Stanley Hospital is just not sustainable.

With the incredible wealth that this state generates, our medical heroes shouldn’t be forced to work under such stress.

We must urgently improve our public hospitals by addressing nurse/patient ratios and improving the working conditions for all hospital staff.

We need to help take the pressure off by increasing the number of bulk-billed GP and urgent care clinics, as well as immediately paying doctors and nurses what they deserve.

The system, as it stands, is at breaking point with patients, nurses and doctors all feeling the pain.