The Patient Journey: Luke’s story

Living in Perth, we’ve all most likely had at least one personal experience with some aspect of the WA Health System. Our own individual patient journeys have travelled through the interconnected pathways of the customers we work for, and services we provide, each day. 

Luke Senior, Acting Manager of the Contact Centre, shares his family’s story. 

Through working at HSS for nearly 10 years in Employee Services and Customer Experience, Luke has had a lot of first-hand dealings with many WA Health employees.  

“Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of nurses, doctors, orderlies, and many other Health employees, to whom we provide a fantastic service for,” he said.  

“And by good fortune, I’ve never had to spend much time as a patient in our public hospitals, seeing their work in action first-hand. However that changed late last month.” 

In January this year, Luke’s 12 year old son Ashley became unwell, and continued to be unwell for a few weeks.  

“He was rapidly losing weight and suffering headaches. Our doctor prescribed some medication, but he just continued to deteriorate further,” Luke said. 

“On 20 January, he was barely able to get out of bed, so we took him to the Joondalup Emergency Department. Within just one hour of being there, they diagnosed the issue: He is Type 1 Diabetic.” 

That evening Ashley was transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital, where he would stay for the next 4-5 days.   

“His mother and I were taken through a series of educational modules on how to manage diabetes. To say the three of us were a bit overwhelmed was an understatement, but the level of care and compassion we received, and continue to be shown by those at PCH, was incredible,” Luke said.  

“From the nurses on Ward 4A who came to take blood and administer those first insulin shots, to the endocrinologists and social workers who checked in and made sure we were all ok, everybody was so reassuring, professional and positive.  

“The Diabetes education team there are simply amazing. Knowing that my 12 year-old son will now need to inject medication daily is daunting and stressful, but they have made the transition so much easier by explaining why we have to do it, how to do it and giving helpful tips to make it easier for all of us. 

“I can honestly say that spending five days at PCH really resonated with me, and has given me a much greater appreciation for the work our customers in WA Health do day in, day out. 

“It also made me proud to be part of the same WA Health family that they are. When our health is on the line, these are the people out there helping us through those difficult times,” Luke said.