Randwick doctors distance themselves from peers at Children’s Hospital at Westmead

A surgeon has highlighted the urgent need for funding at children’s hospitals amid a battle that has seen Randwick doctors vote to leave a network that also runs Westmead.

Randwick doctors want to leave a network that oversees its team as well as the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

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A surgeon has highlighted the urgent need for funding at children’s hospitals amid a battle that has seen Randwick doctors vote to leave a network that also runs Westmead.

Senior nurses at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick have supported doctors who last night overwhelmingly voted to leave the network amid anger that their concerns about a lack of cardiac services on their campus not being addressed, The Australian reported.

After a 2 ½ hour meeting, 129 doctors voted to leave the network that incorporated “rival Westmead, 14 voted to remain and five abstained.

However, Westmead surgeon Dr Matthias Axt dismissed the non-binding vote being linked to rivalry but said it underlined the need for resources.

“It’s not about competition — it’s acknowledging that we need more funding to cope with the daily workload,’’ Dr Axt said.

Dr Matthias Axt. Picture: David Swift

“We support each other. It’s not about competition.”

The orthopaedic surgeon said his waiting list stretched more than a year and the number of beds had dropped from 315 when the Children’s Hospital at Westmead opened in 1995 to about 270 now.

The number is expected to decline even further when Westmead Hospital’s acute services building, now under construction, opens, Dr Axt said.

He said a resource strain meant he performed 10 surgeries a day instead of up to 30.

He said almost 40 applications to the State Government for “growth funding” to support services for western Sydney’s booming population had been made but funding was unlikely to be allocated.

The number of beds had dropped from 315 in 1995 to about 270 now.

“We all know the population of Sydney, particularly in the west, is growing,’’ he said.

“The ministry is probably unable to provide more funds urgently to cope with the increasing demand.

“It makes me feel sad.”

Despite this, Dr Axt said there was still a high retention rate among doctors.

“We’re highly motivated in regards to what we do but it does have an impact on our morale, working in this hospital, when we don’t have the prospect of increased funds to cope with the workload,’’ he said.

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