Horror hospital experience deters couple from Albury Wodonga Health

Hair stylist Bec Styles and her husband Steven were in a serious car accident in late August last year, resulting in Ms Styles breaking a leg in four places and Mr Styles injuring discs in his back.

Ms Styles described her ensuing medical care from Albury Wodonga Health as a "disaster".

She said she had a precious family ring stolen while in care, was covered with a blanket after being left naked and unable to move, was called fat multiple times by a doctor and was dismissed by hospital staff multiple times when seeking answers about her health.

"I don't ever ever want anyone to go through what I've gone through," she said.

Ms Styles has put in a complaint to the hospital.

An Albury Wodonga Health spokeswoman said Ms Styles' concerns were being reviewed.

"We are actively engaged in conversations with Ms Styles and the relevant teams to investigate further," she said.

"We were very sorry to hear about this experience and will be sharing the outcomes of our investigation with Ms Styles and our clinicians in due course."

Dissatisfied with her treatment at Albury Wodonga Health, Ms Styles went to Melbourne for a second surgery earlier this year and was "overwhelmed" with the quality of care compared to on the Border.

"My surgeon was seeing me every single day," she said. "There was no mention of my weight.

"He checked in how I was feeling, he told me every single day what was going to happen each day until I got home."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ms Styles attributed her poor care at Albury Wodonga Health in part to not enough staff or funding.

"They're just trying to deal with so many patients and they just don't have the capacity to be able to do it," she said.

"I pay a lot of attention now to the hospital and I've been told that we aren't getting any funding ... they treat Albury-Wodonga as a small rural town, and we're just not anymore. That's not their fault, but it's us patients that are dealing with it ... it's just ridiculous."

On average, Albury Wodonga Health sees about 1300 Emergency Department presentations every week.

Mr Styles advised Border residents to avoid the hospital if they could. "Go to Melbourne," he said. "It's a joke."

The Albury Wodonga Health spokeswoman did not answer whether Border residents would receive quicker or better care if they went directly to Melbourne and did not address whether Ms Styles' care was due to staff or funding shortages.

"Patients are always our highest priority and we take it very seriously," she said.

People can leave feedback for AWH here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: