Lowana West chose to discharge herself early Sunday morning instead of agreeing to the transfer.

Her husband Harry found her waiting, standing up, outside the hospital in the cold and dark, still in great pain.

“They didn’t even give her a wheelchair,” he said.

Earlier, a nurse had warned her she was about to be moved, and to refuse.

Mrs West claims her stay at Dubbo Base Hospital was replete with omissions and errors, including the wrong morphine tablets, faulty equipment, unchanged bandages and two days without a shower.

However, she praised the nurses and workers on the ground, saying it was bureaucratic staff and management that cause trouble at the hospital.

“The nurses were great, the wardsman was great, they were helpful and fantastic - but the head nurse was condescending and patronising,” she said.

Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) said that after fully investigating the claims, it will contact the Wests directly to discuss and clarify any concerns that have been raised.

Some “appropriate” female patients are transferred to maternity on some occasions, a GWAHS spokesperson said. Those beds were reserved for obstetric patients.

Mrs West had her operation on Monday. According to her husband, on Wednesday her morphine drip was not working properly and was removed. She was put onto tablets, but a doctor later said they were the wrong ones.

“She hadn’t eaten because of the pain,” Mr West said. “On Thursday they said she was right to go home, but she still hadn’t eaten and was weak.

“Then on Friday the doctor said the tablets were wrong, and realised they hadn’t showered her or changed her bandages for two days.”

Mrs West was showered and her bandage was changed almost immediately.

But then on Saturday evening, a medical staffer asked her if a “woman had been around”.

“She said under her breathe that if she comes around and tells me I was going to maternity, to say I wasn’t going,” Mrs West said. “Then she clammed up.”

Then, at 2am, a nurse asked her to move to maternity because the hospital needed the bed.

“Why the hell would I want to go up there,” Mrs West said. “Not only me, but other women who had had a hysterectomy - it’s not fair.

“She tried to play the sympathy card, said it was an elderly man who was very sick and they needed a bed, but at 2am? If it’s an elderly man, I understand, but I couldn’t move, and I still can’t move.”

GWAHS said it takes all complaints seriously and endeavours to work with patients to resolve them in an appropriate manner.

“There are certain occasions where appropriate female patients may be transferred from the general medical ward at Dubbo Base Hospital to the maternity ward to allow for acute patients coming through from the emergency department,” a spokesperson said. “Regrettably this may - on rare occasions - occur later in the evening.

“However there are beds in the maternity section reserved specifically for obstetric patients.

“At all times, patient care is paramount and this policy is common practice and part of Dubbo Base Hospital’s overall bed management strategy.”

lynton.grace@ruralpress.com