Hoani had day surgery for his arm. He was worried that it didn't go well. But didn't see the surgeon before he was discharged. The next day he needed to go back to the hospital as his pain was getting worse and there was a lot of swelling. He didn't know why he couldn't move his arm very much. No one told him whether this was normal. During his stay at the hospital, he was unsure what was happening or whether his arm would get better. Hoani was told he could go home again and wasn't given a copy of his discharge letter.

A few weeks later his arm remained swollen and hard to move. He did not know what would happen next. Hoani's brother suggested he call an advocate. They booked a time to talk on the phone so Hoani’s brother could be there to support him. The advocate said that Hoani can ask questions in writing about what happened. Hoani wanted to do that but the pain in his arm was stopping him from doing things like typing.

He was happy the advocate could type up a complaint letter for him. They talked about what this would say. Hoani wanted to know whether the surgery had gone wrong, why his arm was worse and what could be done about it. Hoani and the advocate checked the letter and emailed it to the hospital. Hoani saw his doctor to get more help as the advocate said it would take time to get a response to his complaint.

When he got his response letter, he read about how the surgery. It had taken two hours longer than it should have. The surgeon wrote that they were not sure how long it would take for him to get better. They arranged appointments for him with the physio. But didn't know whether his arm would get back to normal. He talked to the advocate about what this meant. Hoani said it was a shame that he wasn't told this at the time which left him confused.

Hoani said it was good that he now knew what was going on. He now knew more tests would be done. He also read in the response that he would get an appointment with the surgeon to talk more about care options. Hoani said he would take his brother to help him. The advocate and Hoani talked about the outcome from his complaint. Hoani said that it was good to see they said they were sorry about what happened. They discussed questions that Hoani could ask at his next appointment. This was to help Hoani get the information he needs next time.