Children’s hospital naming review amid public confusion

THE naming of Queensland’s signature public children’s hospital will be reviewed, amid fresh revelations of public confusion over its operation.

• Change gathers steam
• What’s wrong with name

THE Queensland Government is expected to announce a review of the naming of Queensland’s signature public children’s hospital, amid revelations secretly commissioned market research found one in four parents believed the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital was private.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Queensland Health commissioned research into the hospital’s recognition among the community earlier this month, with the findings backing up claims by doctors that the current name, in honour of physician and journalist Phyllis Cilento, was confusing patients.

The market research included four focus groups in Brisbane and Townsville, an online survey of 976 parents of children aged up to 16 years and a survey of 500 members of the “wider community”.

It found that while more than 80 per cent of those surveyed recognised the hospital by name, only about half were confident it was a public facility.

Almost a quarter of parents believed it was a private hospital, while almost 30 per cent were unsure.

That compared with almost 40 per cent of the wider community indicating they were confused as to whether the facility was public or private.

Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital at South Brisbane

When asked if the hospital should be renamed, parents were split, with 45 per cent preferring Lady Cilento and 48 per cent preferring Queensland Children’s Hospital.

About 7 per cent said they liked neither.

Queensland Health is understood to have commissioned the research after concerns were raised that some parents believed they could not afford treatment at the hospital because they believed it was private.

The Government is expected to announce a review of the name as early as today off the back of the research and after doctors at the hospital presented Health Minister Steven Miles with a petition of more than 800 staff calling for it to be renamed the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

The Courier-Mail understands that should the Government move to rename the facility, it would likely still name a part of the hospital after Lady Cilento to ensure she continues to be honoured for her contribution to Queensland.

The chairman of the Hospital and Health Board that runs Lady Cilento, David Gow, also penned a letter to Dr Miles supporting the name change.

He also backed concerns the name — which has been in place since the facility was opened in 2014 — was causing issues with the push by the hospital to be recognised on the international stage.

The Children’s Hospital Foundation has backed a name change as well.