Chris O’Brien Lifehouse

"The doctor and nurses are great and gave the best service they could; however, the customer service reps that I gave my complaint about were really not professional and made my stomach churn. I arrived for my procedure as instructed. After I underwent the surgery, I was sent into the recovery room, which is where the nightmare began. The nurse besides me tried to admit me into the ward, but the ward nurses were not prepared yet; they kept telling me and the recovery nurse to wait another 15 minutes, which turned into 3 hours of waiting time. While I was waiting, I was in and out of consciousness, and the other nurses were chatting and giggling loudly next to my bed. It was an empty recovery room with me inside as a patient. Finally I arrived at the ward, and the nurse gave me food. But the food was expired. At dinner time, Staff came in and asked whether I had prebooked the meal. I told the staff that no one had told me or asked me anything about the meal. Confused and hungry, I waited more than an hour for them to scrape together something for my meal. Being a private patient, I was expecting to be put into a private ward (I checked Medibank for private patient cover), and when I asked about it, the nurse said they were currently full and the nurse that contacted me the previous day should inform me I would be admitted into a shared ward. Being a light sleeper and having just undergone surgery, I can barely sleep with my roommate making noises and watching TV until 12 a.m. when i finally discharged from the hospital,I tried to give feedback.the customer reps called back and started blasting me, saying they have no obligation to provide me with a private room, The waiting time is out of their hands, and the food was not expired; they just labelled it wrong. This has never happened before. apologise for the food being "mislabelled" (I wonder how many times this was used to dismiss patients who had expired food). Anyway, for future patients, lower your expectations for your visit."

"I am so glad I chose to have my Radiation treatment at the COLH. From my first contact I have been so impressed with the friendliness, care, efficiency of the staff. I was very confident that all would go well and it did. Thanks to everyone who helped in my care especially Prof Chris and Catherine. Barbara Brown"

"I recently had a DIEP flap procedure at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, which is a pretty major surgery with a significant recovery period. I was nervous about the expected pain and the effects of the anaesthetic. I spent a week in hospital under the care of some absolutely amazing nurses. They never made me feel bad for asking for extra help or ‘buzzing them’ frequently through the night or guilty for asking for more pain relief. They were an absolute delight and seemed to have endless understanding, patience and compassion. They also supported and respected my husband who was doing his best to navigate it all. It was both lovely and interesting to see one of the more experienced nurses teaching the nursing students about the right and wrong way of performing various procedures in my post-surgical care. I even received a visit from one of the Chris O’Brien executive staff, who was checking in to see that I was happy with their care (not the usual experience at a large hospital!). Thank you to all the doctors and nurses and to the nice man who made me a delicious banana milkshake! You made a difficult time much less difficult!"

"I have just had a day procedure. As you can imagine, I was really worried, but I felt quite at ease as soon I stepped into the centre - there is an air of lightness. The posters of the late Prof O'Brien almost brought tears to my eyes. The nurses are lovely and A/Prof Payal Saxena is amazing (gentle and yet proficient, including a well written report). Thank you so much everyone and my love to Gail O'Brien."

"Just wanted to say what a beautiful compassionate team attended to me on my recent visit to COBLH. The staff and doctors are all friendly, wonderful and kind. I have never been treated better at any hospital in all my 63yrs. Many thanks to you all, you are truly outstanding in everything you do."