Health Minister Ryan Park refuses to restore paediatric cardiac program at Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick

Eastern suburbs children in need of lifesaving cardiac treatment are being forced to travel to Westmead for vital services after Health Minister Ryan Park refused to revive services.

The Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick. Picture: Toby Zerna

Doctors have revealed eastern suburbs kids are having their chests cut open to “initiate heart and lung bypasses” before being ferried close to an hour away to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, after a refusal to revive paediatric cardiac services in Randwick.

Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick intensive care unit specialist, Dr John Awad, said there will be “serious limitations” in the hospital’s ability to “care for sick children”, after Health Minister Ryan Park told senior clinicians he would not fund the revival of cardiac surgery programs.

“The reputational loss of the institution will be severe and impact Randwick’s ability to attract and keep quality staff for the sake of the children in Randwick and throughout NSW,” Dr Awad said.

Dr Awad said The Children’s Hospital at Randwick “receives 75 per cent of the state‘s critically ill children that need retrieval to a paediatric ICU”.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / Monique Harmer

He said “many of these children are at death’s door” and require “immediate access” to a cardiac surgeon. However, under the current plan, sick kids are forced to travel about 43km to The Children's’ Hospital at Westmead for vital, lifesaving treatment.

A recent letter from The Health Minister to the Chair of the Senior Medical Staff Council indicated that medium-complexity surgery, including cardiac bypass surgery, would not be performed at Randwick, more than four years after services were cut.

Joined by ICU nurses, Mr Awad said staff have had to perform CPR on children and some have had their chests opened to “initiate heart and lung bypass”.

A petition by local mum, Debbie Issi, has gained almost 9000 signatures and is calling on the Health Minister to change his decision.

Her eight-year-old daughter, Alexia, benefited from the Randwick specialist services when she required urgent care after she was transferred from Bankstown Hospital to specialist services at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick following severe influenza.

Paediatric ICU specialist and anaethatist Dr John Awad.

Ms Issi said after a previous petition – which gained 63,000 signatures – the state government said Randwick’s cardiac surgery would continue.

“[The minister] has now backflipped and decided that all cardiac bypass surgery will only be performed at Children’s Hospital Westmead,” she said.

The Health Minister told NSW Parliament budget estimates “this issue should have been resolved earlier in terms of the previous government”.

Mr Park said the decision made was on the “basis of the best advice” from experts and the government is “continuing the existing arrangements”.

Mr Park’s refusal to address the issue comes as all but three Labor councillors voted in favour of Randwick Council writing to NSW Health Minister Ryan Park requesting the government “restore and maintain an appropriately funded paediatric cardiac surgical program” at the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick.

New Randwick mayor Philipa Veitch had her minute passed to write to Health Minister Ryan Park. Photo: Mark Bond

In responding to Randwick Council’s mayoral minute, Mr Park said he was never “one to … focus too heavily on local government” .

However, he said he was unaware councillor Dylan Parker – “a ministerial staffer” – had put forward a rescission motion in a bid to block a letter being sent urging him to reinstate services.