Late last month, Tasmanian mother-of-five Cass Whitehill went to the Royal Hobart Hospital with chest pain and shortness of breath, which she knew were symptoms of blood clots in her lungs.
She said hospital staff told her the symptoms were from gas trapped in her abdomen following recent surgery and sent her home with a prescription for painkillers.
As the pain worsened over the next few days, Ms Whitehill looked up her online My Health Record and saw a CT scan conducted at the hospital had actually detected two blood clots in her lungs, called pulmonary embolisms, and a doctor had noted it on the report.
Ms Whitehill is studying to become a nurse and has suffered pulmonary embolisms before, so she knew the condition could be fatal.
"They're a life-threatening, acute condition that need emergency management," she said.
"I walked around for two weeks thinking I had trapped gas when I had these two ticking time bombs inside my body that could have moved into my brain and caused a stroke or anything like that, which is really quite scary."
Ms Whitehill went straight back to the emergency department where she was given blood thinners to dissolve the clots and sent home again.
Two days later she woke to blood "gushing" from her surgical sutures, which she said was caused by the blood thinners, and she was rushed back to hospital by ambulance.
Ms Whitehill has to have more diagnostic tests in three months to check if the blood clots have damaged her heart.
"[It's] quite scary that I could have permanent damage and possibly die earlier than I was meant to … I've got five children and I'm a solo parent," she said.
ED experience results in faith lost in Tasmanian health system
Ms Whitehill has lodged a complaint with the Tasmanian Health Service and has written to Tasmania's Premier and Health Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition.
She said the experience had shaken her confidence in the state's health system.
"It really makes you lose faith in the healthcare system down here in Hobart, which I already know it is struggling and has been for many years," Ms Whitehill said.
"You kind of go, well, next time I'm sick, I don't even want to go to the Royal."
Ms Whitehill suspects the pressure on staff in the emergency department may have led to her condition being misdiagnosed.
"Every time I've been in the emergency department over the last two weeks, they've just been absolutely slammed in there," she said.
"It's been absolutely packed, no free seat in the waiting room, and [the staff are] just so run off their feet."
"There just needs to be something put in place so that this doesn't happen to other people, because people are going to die if things don't get changed."
The Tasmanian Health Department has acknowledged Ms Whitehill's concerns about her care and said her complaint was being investigated by its Statewide Complaints Management Oversight Unit.
Government commits to expanded emergency department inquiry
The stresses on Tasmania's public hospital emergency departments and the broader health system have been in the spotlight in recent weeks.
Last week the Tasmanian Health Department publicly urged people to avoid going to the two largest emergency departments, at the Royal Hobart Hospital and the Launceston General Hospital (LGH), unless they genuinely needed emergency medical treatment.
The department blamed a combination of high patient presentations, staff illness and bed block caused by a patients waiting to be transferred from acute hospital beds to aged and disability care.
On Tuesday Tasmanian Health Minister Guy Barnett announced the government would commission an independent review of emergency departments at all four of the state's major public hospitals, starting with the LGH.
The review will be led by Professor Deborah Picone along with an expert on nursing and an expert nominated by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.
Mr Barnett said emergency departments were a pinch point for the health system.
"We have an ever-growing number of presentations, many of which are not emergencies and could be treated elsewhere," Mr Barnett said.
"We need to make sure resourcing, work practices, communication, and hospital flow strategies are the best they possibly can be."
The announcement is a turn-around from last week when government members voted against a Labor motion in state parliament to instigate a review of the LGH emergency department.
The motion passed with the support of independent members.
Labor health spokeswoman Anita Dow welcomed the inquiry but said it was an incredible change of tune given the Health Minister had last week accused the Opposition of trying to scare Tasmanians.
"Now, less than a week on from his embarrassing reaction to Labor trying to do what the Liberals won't and improve the failing health system – Barnett has back flipped completely," Ms Dow said.
"While this change in tune is welcome, it is entirely indicative of a government that after 10 years in power, has run out of ideas to fix the burning issues in Tasmania."
The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine has welcomed the review but said to drive genuine improvement it must examine the longstanding issues in the broader health system which create pressures in emergency departments.
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