Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital

A Heartfelt Thank You to Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital!

I am writing on behalf of my mum, who recently underwent knee replacement surgery and received exceptional care at Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital. Her journey, spanning 8 weeks of physio and exercise therapy, has been nothing short of amazing.

The nurses at Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital have been a pillar of support, demonstrating unparalleled helpfulness, attentiveness, and genuine consideration. Their warmth and dedication created an environment conducive to healing and recovery.

I must extend a special thank you to Matt and Callum, the physiotherapy team who played a pivotal role in my mum's rehabilitation. Over the 8-week sessions, they exhibited not only professionalism and expertise but also a deep sense of compassion. Their personalized approach and unwavering commitment have truly made a positive impact on my mum's recovery.

Under the excellent care of Matt and Callum, my mum has not only regained her mobility but has also found joy in the rehabilitation process. She is incredibly grateful to both of them for their outstanding efforts and would highly recommend their services to anyone in need.

Thanks again.

I love the taste of water here, the nurses are very nice and I love their uniform. I love seeing little kids lying in the beds here and see their smiling faces!

If I could do less stars I would! Had a loved one in here recently and the care was very poor. I even had to call and complain about very unsafe practices like leaving medication around expecting the patient to know it was there after being in the bathroom.not safe!
Also due to poor care given my loved one ended up back in hospital twice due to a wound infection as the nurses and physios allowed my loved one into the pool without consulting her surgeon, less than a week after surgery and without proper dressing on the wound! Disaster waiting to happen.ended up with a huge infection and back to hospital needing care and antibiotics. NEVER should have happened.
Give this place a miss and look elsewhere.

Highly disappointing experience. The receptionist was extremely rude and acted more like law enforcement than concierge. We were treated as though we were not supposed to be visiting. Nurses would come into the room without knocking first and spoke very abruptly to us as visitors making us feel very uncomfortable. After being transported from another hospital, I found my fathers medication just left in a bag on the bed. It is my understanding that all medication should be locked away for safety reasons and administered only my medical professionals. I put all the medication in the unlocked lock drawer however did not have the key to lock it up. The sink in the room did not work so no one could wash their hands unless they went into the bathroom and this was an issue as my father had had a hip replacement and couldn’t walk far. When we mentioned any of these issues to the staff we felt like we were just annoying them. At one stage my father was waiting on his pain relief (as he received it every 6 hours), he buzzed the nurse and had to wait over half an hour before anyone came to the room. When he asked for the medication they didn’t apologise for the delay. I would not recommend sending your loved ones here as the care is questionable at best. Very disappointing experience for both patient and visitors, would never go back or recommend.

As in in-patient after hip surgery I found this hospital to be excellent in all areas. The nurses are just wonderful, so caring and supportive. The physiotherapists are very committed to their work and treat the patients with respect and empathy. All the services are punctual and efficiently run, with warmth and genuine care. As an outpatient in rehab, the same applies to the Physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and hydrotherapy area. Oh yes, and the meals are great too.

Outstanding care and attention from all staff - nursing, physio, occupational therapy, kitchen and other support staff. I can not speak too highly of them.

We’ve used the in-patient and out-patient services over the last ten years. Professional, great expertise, great outcomes all round. Good hydrotherapy pool and physio gym. Care was for after foot surgery (twice across ten years), and after double knee replacement for another family member, and post broken leg recovery periods.

VERY disappointed with this facility. Lack of care, communication and services for 84 year old patient after major knee replacement. Would NOT recommend for the elderly.

I recently spent 2 weeks at Donvele Rehab after having Spinal Fusion-Alif surgery. I cannot recommend this place more highly, thankyou to all the nursing staff, Physiotherapists and to Dr Andrew. I was overwhelmed by the professionalism and caring treatment. Thankyou!

I was in Donvale Rehabilitation Centre after a right knee replacement surgery.
I am so grateful to all the staff from the fantastic Doctors, Nurses, Occupational and Physiotherapy staff, Dietitian, Porters, Catering and cleaners. They were all professional, caring and very supportive with empathy and kindness.
The physiotherapy program was very intensive, and my physiotherapist, Josh listened to me and worked with me until I received the results I was aiming for! The catering staff tried their best to ensure my dietary requirements, as a Vegan, were met but alas there wasn’t many options for a vegan on the menu.
Apart from the issue with the selection of vegan food I can not fault Donvale Rehabilitation Centre and Ii highly recommend it.

I was an inpatient at Donvale Rehab Hospital from 13/3/22 to 22/3/22, after total left knee replacement surgery.
I am so grateful to Dr. Saha (GP), for his professional care, empathy and kindness. He went the extra mile to ensure that my dietary requirements, as a Vegan, were addressed & met. I nominated him for an outstanding staff award.
Although I remember meeting Dr. Demetrius (rehab specialist) I can’t remember much about her, I’m sorry. She was undoubtedly part of the great team looking after me. I thank her very much for her role.
All of the nursing staff in the Tully ward were respectful, friendly, attentive and professional. Thank you all very much.
Julia, was my appointed physiotherapist. She was fantastic, encouraging me each and every day. There were a lot of physiotherapists working together in the gymnasium. They’re paperwork was so organised, each physiotherapist knew exactly what they were to do for each and every patient, no matter what individual challenges each patient faced.
A huge thank you to the physiotherapy team.
Porters were lovely. I thank them for their friendly, professional service.
Thank you also to Occupational Therapists.
My room (Room 11) was lovely: - modern and comfortable. The ensuite was gorgeous, too.

Now to a subject that dismays me to have to bring up - unacceptable, unappetising, unpleasant, unenjoyable, horrible vegetarian / vegan soups & main meals!
I prefer a Vegan diet, but I’m not a strict Vegan. I will compromise and eat eggs and cheese occasionally, when no Vegan food is available.
It soon became apparent that Vegan food was unheard of at Donvale Rehab. Vegetarian soups were drab and tasteless. However, fruit was always available.
Food offered to me on days 1,2 & 3 of my stay was so unacceptable that I almost checked myself out of Donvale Rehab Hospital on Tuesday night. It seemed, no one in the kitchen had any knowledge of, or experience with Vegan food.
I had complained to the meals monitors, nurses & kitchen staff about the poor food options for 3 days. On Tuesday afternoon, 15th March, the Catering Manager and Nutritionist came to see me. They both assured me that every effort would be made to accomodate my Vegan preferences. The Nutritionist even bought Vegan food for me at Coles, Tunstall Square. She showed me what she had bought. Wow! I was finally being acknowledged!
However, Tuesday evening’s meal was another utter disappointment! I was served cooked veggies as the main, with ice cream and jelly for dessert. You’re probably thinking, veggies are vegan, but, I was so over plain steamed veggies that I cracked it! And ice cream and jelly are not vegan. I rejected the whole meal!
On the morning of Wednesday 16th March, Dr Saha visited me. I told him about my utter frustration and dissatisfaction with the food offered to me. I showed him photos I had taken of the food and he was very empathetic and kind. He assured me he would do something about it.
For Wednesday 16th March lunch, I was served a vegetarian curry with rice and fruit salad for dessert. Fantastic! I wrote a big “thank you” note to the Catering Manager and was going to ask a kitchen staff member to pass it on to him, but he visited me and asked me if I enjoyed my lunch. I handed him the note and thanked him for a wonderful meal.
On Wednesday 16th March, at dinner, I was served a vegetarian lasagna. Although not Vegan, it was a huge improvement on the typical unpleasant meals I had been served. It was absolutely delicious! I wrote a second “thank you” note and slipped it under the door of the Catering Manager’s office.
Thursday lunch was a stodgy pasta dish, but dinner was great - roast potatoes, vegan snags with a nice sauce, broccoli & peas.
The main meals served between Friday to Monday night, were either vegetarian sandwiches or stodgy vegetarian pasta dishes. Passable, but no protein to be seen. I was given some protein shakes however.

Catering needs a HUGE shake up and overhaul!
I hope this negative feedback regarding meals drastically improves your menu.

Trish Schultz

Extremely disappointed at the end result of our complaint about the treatment of our 73 year old mother who had major back surgery. It is a very similar experience as the review listed below by Julie Pet; the stand over tactics and bullying by nurses whom are meant to be caring and alleviating patient's distress. We were told that they have zero tolerance of bullying against staff and they have to protect their staff. Who protects the sick and elderly that their staff are bullying and abusing? It is obvious that the staff are only looking out for themselves and trying to cover up any mistreatment instead of getting to the cause of the problem and having those nurses apologise for their unprofessional behaviour. I cant imagine any 73 year old discharging themselves for no good reason when they had stayed at this place a year ago with no issue. It seems their staff are not trained to act with empathy or, have any skills to diffuse situations without using stand over tactics and making patients feel unsafe. Do your family a favour and stay away from this place!

After a long stint in Intensive Care, where I was sedated for several months, resulting in severe muscular deconditioning. I was transferred to Donvale, where I met with experienced and caring physiotherapy staff who assessed my current capabilities, formulated goals and a comprehensive reconditioning plan.
The physiotherapy program at Donvale is quite intensive, and gets results quickly.

I could not recommend this facility more highly, and am grateful to all the staff for getting me back on my feet.

I was transferred to Donvale day 3 post-op after having surgery on my right femur & knee. I was very stressed with big pain issues, about being discharged so soon after my surgery. Within hours of arriving at Donvale I realized that this is exactly where I needed to be. A plan of action was being put into place. I had met a physio, occupational therapist, menu monitor& of course the nursing staff. My stress levels had dropped remarkably!
Everything works so well at Donvale. Despite all the public holidays over Xmas & new year, I had atleast one physio session per day, often two. The phyios are just amazing providing very professional & personalised care. A huge shout out to Claire who was my primary physio whilst an in patient & Callum who looks after me as an outpatient. Other phyios such as Jules & Tailor have also been wonderful in the care they have provided. Thanks also to Helen the occupational therapist who helped ensure that I would be safe when discharged home. I am now doing two outpatient physo & pool sessions per week and am certainly seeing the benefits as far as my recovery is concerned. I am sure that I would not have been able to cope at home post surgery without having been admitted at Donvale in the meantime. From the medical staff to the nurses, porters, menu staff, cleaners, I thankyou all for the great, friendly service you provide. If I could give Donvale Rehab 10 stars I would. Congratulations to the executive team on how this facility runs.

I spent 2 weeks at Donvale recently and cannot speak highly enough of the care I was given. When I arrived I couldn't do much for myself without help. The nursing staff were wonderful. Not only did they help me but they taught me to be independent. Nothing was too much for them and we had some laughs. The physios were marvelous. They knew just how far to stretch me. It was great to see them all working together and with their patients. Two fantastic teams backed up by the OTs who made sure every aid was available and even taught me how not to get in trouble in the kitchen, and how to get in and out of the car.
Apart from the pain it was like being in 5 star hotel. Thd food is cooked on site by a great chef and if I sent anything back it was because I had too much. The cleaning staff seemed to be on they go all day and my room was kept spotless, assuming I was was the rest of hospital.
Thank you also to the administration staff the backbone of the organization. If I needed to I would go back to Donvale without hesitation.

I was booked into Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital and rate it very highly. The Doctors, nurses, physio, catering, cleaners, admin are all very professional, polite and caring.

Two physio staff that I would like to publicly mention are Callum and Alisha.

Callum looked after my individual rehab and offered me encouragement and care during some difficult times. He was constantly situationally aware and consistently provided quality physio support. Thank you is not enough.

Alisha looked after my hydro therapy and was a constant in offering support and encouragement. She was always cheerful and supportive. Her delivery of care is exceptional.

Thank you Donvale, I highly recommend your hospital and staff to anyone.

Cant fault the place! Food was good, staff were good, pyshios were good, nurses were great! Everyone smiling and helpful, great amenities, room was spacious and all you need! Much better than going straight home after surgery to sit on the couch. They help you get moving and motivated, Occupational therapists help you for when it comes to going home and take the time to educate you, communication is excelent, did i mention the nurses?

My wife Carole burton spent 12 days as in-house patient and 8 weeks as an outpatient one afternoon a week

The experience of the hospital was excellent, good food, professional staff, very supportive and friendly staff, excellent physiological services, my wife felt very happy with the entire hospital experience. We would have no problem at in recommending Ramsay services to any one why requested an opinion from us.

Yours sincerely
Jeffrey.r. Burton

Excellent services and helpful, friendly staff. My mother has been here several times for various reasons and has always benefited from its rehabilitation program. Keep up the good work.

I spent 2 weeks in Donvale Rehabilitation Centre last month after knee replacement surgery. It was the best decision I could have made.
If you have to undertake a hip or knee replacement, then this is the best thing you can do to enhance and speed up your recovery. All the staff were fantastic. The In-house Doctors, Nurses Occupational and Physiotherapy staff were all engaged and very supportive. The domestic staff were friendly and made me feel very comfortable and special as they carried out their duties, and the food was great! Nothing was too much trouble! I could never have reached the results I achieved in two weeks on my own. I highly recommend this facility.