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Hospital apologises for discharging patient with drip

After waiting two hours for her husband to be discharged, Verqueline noticed halfway home her husband’s IV drip was still intact.

Arwyp Medical Centre in Kempton Park took corrective action after a 60-year-old Brakpan man was discharged from the hospital on May 2 with his IV line still intact.

“We at Arwyp express our sincerest apologies to John Kalicharan for the incident. An investigation was conducted into the matter and the necessary measures were taken to avoid any such future occurrences,” said Ansie Willemse, relationship manager at the hospital.

“We invite Kalicharan to engage with the hospital should he require any further assistance or clarification.”

According to Verqueline Kalicharan (50), a matron came to their Brakpan home to remove her husband’s line.

John was admitted to Arwyp on April 27 and underwent surgeries on April 28 and May 1.

Verqueline said her frustrations started on the day of his discharge.

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Because of Covid-19 regulations she was not allowed to enter the hospital to visit her husband and ended up waiting outside for two hours.

When he finally emerged, he was carrying his own baggage without a porter’s assistance as promised.

“Security assured me a porter would bring him down from the 10th floor. My husband had to borrow someone’s phone in the ward to call me to tell me he was being discharged.”

She argued it was unprofessional from the staff not to inform her of his discharge.

When Verqueline contacted John’s doctor, she was also surprised about him being discharged, as according to her she did not approve it.

On their way home they realised the IV line was still intact.

“When I phoned his doctor, she said she gave instructions to the staff to remove his drips. A nurse called me, telling me I must come back. We were almost home.”

The doctor later called to say a matron would come to their residence to take the drip out.

“This should not have happened in the first place.”

In a letter to the Kalicharans, a representative from the matron specialty unit wrote: “I can assure you that we take any feedback, positive or negative, very seriously and in any instance where our customers were not satisfied with the care received from our personnel, we do a full investigation.

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“All staff involved in the negative incident with the discharge process and not removing the IV line was all managed according to our guidelines.”

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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Thelma Koorts  (editor) brakpanherald@caxton.co.za

or Stacy Slatter (news editor) stacys@caxton.co.za

 or Miné Fourie (journalist) minev@caxton.co.za

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