Sydney Childrens Hospital doctors’ fears may have remedy

Health officials hope a report due to be published next month will help resolve doctors’ concerns over the adequacy of cardiac services for children.

Girl being examined by pediatrician. Picture: Thinkstock

• Doctor speaks on hospitals row
• Turf war over children’s cardiac services
• ‘We support each other, it’s not about competition’

Health officials hope a report due to be published next month will help resolve doctors’ concerns over the adequacy of cardiac services for children.

The Australian has reported doctors at the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick have voted to leave the network management structure that runs the hospital and the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

The Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick

Westmead doctors have argued that they should be the sole providers of paediatric cardiac surgery in NSW to achieve the best outcomes.

However, Randwick doctors say they require fulltime cover by paediatric cardiac surgeons and cardiologists to ensure patient safety.

The head of the medical staff council at the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick, cancer specialist Sue Russell, said the hospital cared for almost half the children in NSW requiring hospitalisation.

“In the interests of those children, 129 out of 148 senior specialist doctors voted to abandon the failed networking of the two children’s hospitals of Sydney,” she said.

“We have had no meaningful response from the Ministry of Health regarding the life-threatening risks posed to children that stem from losing cardiac surgery at our hospital.”

A spokeswoman for NSW Health said there were many differing perspectives about the future of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.

“These perspectives have been acknowledged and NSW Health remains committed to working closely with clinicians across the network,” she said.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard earlier this year set up a panel to review the governance of the network.

NSW Health expects the panel’s recommendations to be published in late June.

A surgeon at Westmead, Dr Matthias Axt, dismissed any suggestion of rivalry between the hospitals.

He said the debate 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.

A spokeswoman for NSW Health said each year the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network performed more than 750 cardiac procedures and had more than 6,500 outpatient appointments.

These services will continue, she said.