Kerry Faulkner says her 13-year-old daughter who suffers from acute scoliosis is in crippling pain because she has to wait months to get fitted with a new brace.
The Bicton mother said the only scoliosis treatment facility at Royal Perth Hospital had recently out-sourced its brace-making to a private contractor.
Ms Faulkner said the contractor had none of her daughter Ella's medical records, couldn't order x-rays when needed, couldn't fit lifts in shoes, and could see her only after hours when he'd finished with his own patients.
She said as the orthotists couldn't order x-rays, her daughter had to go back in the queue.
"I don't know why she couldn't order an x-ray," Ms Faulkner told Fairfax Media.
"What a joke – even my chiropractor can order an x-ray and have the results the same afternoon.
"I am incredibly frustrated – if we can't get any help here we will have to move to Melbourne for treatment.
"I know a lot of people who have done that."
Ms Faulkner said that when her daughter, who also has a severe disability, finally got an x-ray, the specialist said the curvature of her spine had shifted so dramatically she would require a new brace.
"She has been stuck in the old brace since February," she said.
"She has outgrown it and is in pain.
"Scoliosis is really serious. If a brace can't straighten it, it means serious, debilitating spinal surgery."
Ms Faulkner said to make matters worse, when she finally got an appointment at the Royal Perth Hospital clinic last Friday, she had to wait more than two hours to see the doctor.
"It was a nightmare – it was a special kind of hell," she said.
"My daughter has a disability that manifests as hyperactivity and Aspergers. She became very distressed in the crowded waiting room at times, saying repeatedly that she felt like hitting herself.
"I found her a broken trolley bed to lie down on.
"The only food and water were in vending machines. The food was lollies and chips – high sugar and additives a hyperactive child shouldn't have and completely out of place in a hospital."
Ms Faulkner said she decided to go out and buy some food, but when she came back the hospital was locked.
"I was standing on the footpath in tears waiting for someone to come out so I could get back in," she said.
"When I finally got inside my daughter was wandering around the building looking for me, obviously distressed."
Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook expressed dissatisfaction with both the WA health system and Health Minister Kim Hames.
"This is another example of the mess Kim Hames has created with the reconfiguration of hospital services," Mr Cook said.
"Patients have been badly let down. As with the opening of Fiona Stanley Hospital, clinics are closed down, services privatised, and staff sacked.
"We wanted Fiona Stanley Hospital to improve hospital services for patients. Instead, patients like Ella have had a reduction in the available services and the standards of those services.
"Once you privatise hospital services, standards inevitably fall.
"The Government should reverse this decision and improve services to scoliosis sufferers, not cut them back."
Minister Hames' office has been contacted for comment.
