Complaint Review: SouthPointe Healthcare Center

My introduction to SouthPointe was a nurse in charge who said "I am not here to explain the rules. I am here to enforce them." I immediately called a patient advocate and told her I had to leave Southpointe. She tried but other places were locked down due to the flu.

From the nurse's unprofessional, anti-patient comments as a beginning, the place got worse every day. I did file a comprehensive written complaint with the State, feds and the insurance company. Here I will only mention a few.

I was at the facility for rehab after a knee replacement. For three days after admission I had no physical therapy at all. No walking.  Terrible for my knee.

At no time did anyone ever prepare an individualized care plan for me. No one talked with me about my treatment. Since I had 5 different physical therapists for 10 sessions of PT there was no continuity of care. There was no measurement of my progress. Each session was a beginning session all over again. Useless for me.  I was offered bingo as a passtime.  What made sense to me was physical exercise, walking and PT -- not bingo.

Whenever I asked for cold gel packs after PT. I was told over and over again that there weren't any. "Other people were using them."  Finally a helpful nursing assistant told me where I might find some if they are not all being used. Last time I checked patients did not have to rummage for their own treatment supplies.  Cold gel packs are necessary to treatment.

I could not get a shower. I asked over and over again for just one shower after 3 days in the hospital and 2 in the center. I was told that I could only have one in a week after I was admitted to the center. Anti-cleanliness = anti-patient.

An order was written for me to walk the halls once a day with an assist. One time after a week at the center, a staffer showed up at my door and wanted to walk now. I would not stop the instruction I was being given and tried to set an appointment to walk in the afternoon. The staffer said there was no need for an appointment, she would return. She never did at all. Not any day.

The administration ignored another chronic medical issue which caused me to be awake too much of the night. I asked for a simple piece of equipment ($150 at Walgreen's) and was told by the social worker: "We don't have any. You'll have to wait." Wait until when? In short, SouthPointe did not provide adequate supplies and equipment that are standard for rehab.

Other parts of the inadequate "rehab treatment" led me to conclude that SouthPointe is understaffed, too many nursing assistants are working double shifts, necessary supplies are not provided (a helpful nursing assistant told me nursing home residents bring their supplies from home!), administration is unreachable and uncaring (I tried over and over again), and quality patient care is not the goal of the center.

The rehab was useless and far too expensive. Most importantly, I did not get quality health care with attention to continuity of care. There was never any evidence of any discussion with or without me about my health care. I can, without any hesitation, compare SouthPointe to a third rate motel with meals. This may seem harsh. I have many more examples of repeated failures by SouthPointe providing quality health care. This isn't harsh enough. I tried talking with the Director of Nursing and the center administrator. No success with the administrator and one unresolved conversation with the nursing director.

This is a review instead of a complaint because I can't think of anything that SouthPointe could ever do to fix the truly horrible experience SouthPointe caused.