General News
22 October, 2025
Hospital Defends Care After Patient’s Fall
A PATIENT of the Wimmera Base Hospital has called his treatment during a visit earlier this year a “disgrace” and claimed there was a lack of proper protocols, poor communication and lack of post-discharge support.
Minyip local, Ian Bullock, lodged a formal complaint to the hospital a few weeks after an emergency visit in May, including one incident where he fell off a trolley and injured his neck, but said not enough has been done to give assurance of better future care.
He said he considered the medical care he received a “dereliction of duty” on several levels.
He added he was dissatisfied with the hospital’s written response to him on a range of matters, despite it confirming the veracity of some details of his complaints.
Speaking to the Wimmera Mail Times, Mr Bullock claimed when he arrived on May 1, he was so exhausted from the stomach complaint that brought him to hospital, he fell asleep on the trolley he was left on, but without the bed rails raised.
However, he rolled over at one point and fell on the floor, hitting his head and injuring his neck.
He claimed hospital staff neglected to properly assess his condition and assisted him back onto the trolley “without any proper protocols”.
Then later, in the process of being brought to a scan, he said the staff again failed to properly consider his condition following the fall in asking him to slide off the bed to move into a wheelchair.
“So they have asked me – knowing that I just had a fall previously – unassisted, ‘just ease your way off the bed, Ian’, which I did,” Mr Bullock alleged.
“I slipped off the bed, put my feet out, to try and break the fall (but) I had some socks on, and I slid across the floor.
“This time, I flipped over and landed on my hip – and now my hip’s hurting.”
He claimed that despite the second fall, he was not given any precautionary scans for that pain, and the medical staff weren’t timely and communicative enough about the nature of his neck injury, even after getting him to wear a cervical neck brace, which also happened after a delay.
Mr Bullock claimed he was later told separately by a hospital nurse and then a doctor if he didn’t wear it, he would be paralysed, adding to his overall distress.
He was also surprised he would be discharged if there was such a serious risk.
But some days later, he received medical advice via a text message and a follow-up phone call from the Royal Melbourne Hospital Orthopaedics Unit, which had been engaged to help manage his neck condition, that there was never any risk of that magnitude.
The written reply from Grampians Health, dated August 25, acknowledged his “first fall” and details such as the lack of bed rails, claiming they “are only used in specific circumstances” and were “not recommended for people who can mobilise safely and independently”.
The health service defended the actions of staff in the management of his neck pain and disputed his version of the events that followed, adding there was “associated confusion”.
“We acknowledge that your recollection of the incident differs from the documented account, and regret that you did not feel you were given an opportunity to discuss what happened at the time,” the letter said.
But the letter acknowledged his concerns about the risks from his neck condition, affirming “it is not accurate that failing to wear the collar would result in paralysis” and recognised the distress the statement may have caused.
The hospital assured Mr Bullock they would never have discharged him “if there were any concerns about serious neurological risk”.
But Mr Bullock took umbrage at the claim there was confusion about the events, and said, “I knew exactly what was going on”, and he also believed internal CCTV footage would further verify what happened.
He claimed the letter contradicted itself in places, especially in relation to potentially discharging a patient with a serious spinal injury and “just wanted them to be accountable for their actions”.
When contacted directly by the Wimmera Mail Times, a spokesperson from Grampians Health said they “(do) not comment on individual patient care” and further expanded on their policies in dealing with complaints.
“We encourage all consumers of our services to provide formal feedback about their experience, so we can review issues and concerns and provide response to this,” they said.
“Our consumers are the focus of our efforts, and feedback is treated with respect and dealt with in a timely, courteous manner.”
The reply provided contact details for Grampians Health based in Ballarat and further grievance avenues in CareOpinion and the Office of the Health Complaints Commissioner, the latter also mentioned in the letter to Mr Bullock.
The HCC is a Victorian Government-appointed advocate for patient rights and safety.
It handles complaints related to healthcare services and the handling of health information to facilitate outcomes that may go beyond a health service’s own processes, which can include apologies, explanations, refunds, or changes to procedures.
Mr Bullock said he wanted to see better standards from the hospital and was concerned about other members of the public.
“I don't want anyone to go through that,” he said.
“It's bad enough being in the hospital … they’re going to have to address the issues.”