Dad claims he was told by health minister ‘no one has died yet’

The father of a baby caught in a turf war over cardiac services between Sydney’s two children’s hospitals claims he was told by Health Minister Brad Hazzard that “no one has died”.

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The father of a baby caught in a turf war over cardiac services between Sydney’s two children’s hospitals claims he was told by Health Minister Brad Hazzard that “no one has died” as yet as a result of the ongoing stoush.

Michael Kenny, the father of four-week-old Evelyn, said his daughter, a patient at Sydney Children’s Hospital, was ready for urgent bypass surgery on her heart on July 5 but had to wait three days for an intensive care bed to become available at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

She did not get the surgery until Monday afternoon, after Mr Kenny went to media.

Mr Kenny said Mr Hazzard called him on Tuesday, the day after Evelyn’s surgery.

“In some respects he (the minister) was not as understanding as he could have been, he emphasised to me that no one has died so far because of the shambles between the two hospitals,” Mr Kenny said.

Michael Kenny with his wife Joanne and baby Evelyn, who needed heart surgery.

The Sunday Telegraph can also reveal the baby could have had the bypass surgery done at Randwick on July 6 because cardiac surgeon Dr Peter Grant was rostered on and available at SCH but he was not referred the case.

Instead the baby was given drugs to keep her aorta open while she waited.

“She was already in an intensive care bed at Randwick. Why wasn’t the surgeon at Randwick allowed to operate on that child rather than the delay and exposure to potential risk?” a medical source said.

“You don’t leave a child on a drug like that for days on end, you operate. Dr Grant has done that surgery 50-60 times and he wasn’t even spoken to.”

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Mr Kenny said the wait compromised his daughter.

“She was ready for the surgery on Friday, then it was a waiting game,” Mr Kenny said.

“By this stage, Evelyn’s pulse readings were weakening as a direct result of the aorta problem and she needed urgent surgery.

Baby Evelyn’s bypass surgery on her heart was delayed.

“Our baby daughter has been very lucky to survive and I fear for other children caught in a similar situation in the future.”

Mr Hazzard invited Mr Kenny to write a submission to contribute to the round table discussion on July 27.

The feud over cardiac resources between the two hospitals, which were combined under the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network in 2010, culminated in a governance review ordered by Mr Hazzard.

The review, released on July 3, failed to address the root problem that Westmead wants to centralise all cardiac surgery there and close down cardiac surgery at SCH.

SCH Randwick Medical Staff Council released a scathing response to the governance review highlighting that the “under-resourcing of cardiac services at SCH Randwick” prompted the review but then SCH cardiac experts were excluded from the reviewing panel.

“Interestingly, CHW’s directors of cardiac surgery and cardiac services were afforded individual invitations to meet the Panel,” director of the staff council Dr Susan Russell said.

A spokeswoman for the minister said “cardiologists across the state are referring their patients predominantly to Westmead, however, the goal of everyone involved in the roundtable of 27 July is to discuss how NSW Health will continue to deliver world class health services for children and infants in NSW.”

Originally published as Dad claims he was told by health minister ‘no one has died yet’