4 days ago
Widow says husband's last days are proof of WA's 'broken' health system
Kevin Cross had lay bleeding while ramped outside a hospital, was shifted to five different beds in one day, was cared for by an exhausted staff and faced delay upon delay.
His wife, Jenny Cross, said that was the reality of navigating Western Australia's struggling public health system with her late husband.
It was a six-month ordeal of emotional distress as Ms Cross searched for answers to his deteriorating health.
"Just after Christmas last year he had started to lose a lot of weight for no known reason," Ms Cross said.
"He had a bad bleed in March so I took him to the emergency department in Busselton."
Mr Cross waited 12 hours to be transferred from Busselton Health Campus to Bunbury Regional Hospital, only to spend another three hours ramped outside.
Within 24 hours he had been moved between five different beds.
Ms Cross said there was no communication between the hospitals about a blood transfusion Mr Cross desperately needed.
"They gave him a CT scan and couldn't see anything wrong so he was just sent home with a referral for a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy," she said.
"The results were nothing, apparently. I tried to book a PET scan he had a referral for but I never heard back.
Mr Cross was in and out of hospital over the next six months as his condition deteriorated.
Ms Cross recalled PA announcements in Bunbury Hospital asking for staff to work overtime.
She also said she had specialists advising them to have tests as outpatients to save time.
In the end, the Cross family "gave up" on the public health system and took Kevin to St John of God Murdoch.
After 15 days in the hospital he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on July 3.
By then his organs were failing and his heart was operating at just 10 per cent of its usual strength.
Mr Cross died two weeks later on July 18, leaving behind his wife, three children and eight grandchildren.
Ms Cross said Kevin would be remembered for his warm and friendly nature.
"Anyone you spoke to would say he was a really nice guy who would do anything to help you if he could," Ms Cross said.
"I don't know if an earlier diagnosis would have made any difference in the end, but he could have been a lot more comfortable and had more time."
She said she knew the system was bad but did not fully understand until she experienced it with her husband.
Australian Medical Association WA branch president Kyle Hoath said the issues described by Ms Cross, including ramping, bed shuffling and general delays, were apparent across the entire public health system.
"It breaks my heart when we hear this happening, particularly in the regions," Dr Hoath said.
"But unfortunately none of this surprises me anymore.
"It's a symptom of a larger problem — we don't have enough staff capacity and burnout rates are high in Bunbury."
In June, ambulances spent 240 hours ramped in regional areas, with Bunbury Hospital accounting for 85 per cent of total ramping.
Dr Hoath said the Cook government needed to acknowledge the problem so solutions could be found.
"Bunbury is just under intense pressure right now."
The state government and WA Country Health Service were contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, Ms Cross said she and her family had been left to deal with losing Mr Cross.
"They [the state government] just need to listen and understand it's actual human beings they're dealing with," she said.
"And stop wasting so much money on stuff like that racetrack, the rugby and movie sets. Just listen to what people want.
"We're not just statistics, we're real people with real families and real lives to live."
