Phoebe, Hamish, and Elaina with their mother Andrea Newman.
By Callan Date
A BERWICK mother who feared who daughter had the deadly meningococcal disease was told by a doctor to drive her to another hospital.
Andrea Newman said she attended Casey Hospital’s Emergency Department on Friday night when her four-year-old daughter Phoebe and one-year-old son Hamish were ill.
Ms Newman said she was happy with the initial treatment at the Berwick hospital but was told there were no beds and the children would need to go to the Monash Medical Centre.
“To say I was shocked was an understatement. A brand new hospital and it is already beyond capacity,” Ms Newman said.
Ms Newman was then stunned again when she was encouraged by a doctor to drive her children rather than have an ambulance transport them.
“At this stage they had IV drips in their arms,” she said.
“I was very unhappy to take them by private car, but the doctor reassured me this was the quickest and therefore best course of action.”
Ms Newman said she arrived at Monash slightly after midnight and had to endure another long wait before her children were admitted for a second time.
“I couldn’t believe it. We had to go through the whole thing again. My daughter was presenting with a rash on her chest similar to that of meningococcal, so I was really worried,” she said.
Ms Newman said her two children spent nearly 12 hours in two emergency departments before finally being admitted.
Both children have now fully recovered, but Ms Newman is still angry.
“I believe the treatment my children received that evening was appalling,” she said. “I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through what me and my two children did.”
A spokesperson from Southern Health, which operates both Casey Hospital and the Monash Medical Centre, was unavailable for comment before the News went to press.
