An Adelaide mother says her eight-year-old daughter could not be safely discharged from hospital because the emergency department was unable to meet her dietary requirements.
Monique Phoenix raced her daughter to the Modbury Hospital emergency department in September after she had been vomiting for 17 hours straight.
"We rang the Women's and Children's hotline and were told to present to emergency immediately and, so, we chose the hospital closest to our house," Ms Phoenix said.
After waiting three hours to be assigned a doctor, she said her daughter started to feel hungry when the anti-vomiting medicine took effect.
'Can someone go and bring you food'
After explaining her daughter's dietary requirements to staff, Ms Phoenix said she was told they couldn't provide her with any gluten- or dairy-free options.
The mother said that they were eventually provided with a "pre-packed fruit cup" with no ingredients or expiry date listed, and an "unwrapped" wooden fork to eat it with.
"We had no idea if that was going to make her sicker," she said.
Ms Phoenix said an hour later a doctor told them that her eight-year-old would need to prove she could keep down food to be safely discharged.
Her daughter, Ms Phoenix said, was then provided with a curried egg sandwich and dairy cookies that were "thrown on her bed" by hospital staff.
"They did say, 'Can't someone go and bring you food?', but at this point it was [2am]," Ms Phoenix said.
"They even told me to bring my own food but no one thinks to run into the pantry and grab some snacks, especially when your child has been vomiting non-stop for 17 hours."
The mother said that, after the hospital staff were unable to provide her daughter with suitable food, she said she was asked to sign a risk discharge form, which she refused.
After eventually being discharged by a more senior doctor, she asked them to re-write the discharge form because it didn't explain that her daughter wasn't provided with suitable food to prove she was healthy enough to go home.
She said the eight-year-old needed to present to the Women's and Children's Hospital two days later as her condition worsened.
"She has never ever been sick, so her being in a hospital was a terrifying thing," she said.
"No one should have to go through what we went through."
In a statement, the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network said hospitals do provide "a range of meal options for inpatients … including dairy-free and gluten-free meals".
"Our ED staff have access to a limited pantry of sandwiches and fruit cups for occasions like this where food is requested out of [the kitchen's] opening hours," it said.
"Vending machines have gluten- and dairy-free options and families with food allergies or intolerances are also welcome to bring food from home."
The Local Health Network also apologised for not meeting the "family's expectations".
Growing dietary concerns at hospitals
Coeliac Australia's health advocacy officer, Penny Dellsperger, said not being able to provide safe food for people with dietary requirements can have serious health consequences.
"Those with coeliac disease, the only treatment for their condition is a strict, gluten-free diet," Ms Dellsperger said.
"It's effectively the medicine they need to stay healthy."
She said access to gluten- and dairy-free food and drinks at hospitals is an issue that is affecting a growing number of people.
"We fairly regularly get queries and concerns from some of our members around availability and accessibility to reliable, gluten-free options in hospitals and in aged care," she said.
"More conversations need to happen at a state and federal level to ensure people are catered for adequately."
