Staff ‘exhausted’ on the day girl Aishwarya Aswath, 7, died

Staff at the Perth Children’s Hospital were ‘exhausted, demoralised and relatively isolated’ when a seven-year-old girl died after waiting hours for treatment, a review has found.

Aishwarya Aswath. Picture: 9 News

Emergency department staff at the Perth Children’s Hospital were “exhausted, demoralised and relatively isolated” when a seven-year-old girl died after waiting hours for treatment, an independent review has found.

A report into the April death of Aishwarya Aswath was released by the West Australian government on Tuesday, with Health Minister Roger Cook promising to accept and act on all 30 recommendations.

Aishwarya has become the face of WA’s broader hospital ­crisis. Ambulance ramping levels have soared and elective surgeries have been cancelled this year as the state’s health system struggles to cope despite a lack of Covid-19 in the state.

WA’s closed borders have made it harder to ­access the interstate and international pool of doctors and nurses who have long underpinned the health system. A rise in mental health presentations have added to the strain.

The review identified a series of issues across the hospital, including “sub-optimal” staffing of triage and waiting areas that were “particularly vulnerable”.

“The hospital’s historic staffing and recruitment strategies, particularly for nursing staff, were severely disrupted by the pandemic-related border closures and staff movements to state-wide Covid-19 activities,” the ­report found. The review was told parental communication and ­escalation supports were “insufficient”, while staff were “exhausted, demoralised and relatively isolated”.

“A major increase in ED presentations and other service ­demands, in late 2020, due to unseasonable respiratory illnesses and increases in adolescent mental health patients, was not able to be met with … sufficient urgency,” the panel found.

Rosanna Capolingua, who was appointed chairman of WA’s Child and Adolescent Health Services Board a month after Aishwarya’s death, said it was clear the organisation had to do better.

“We acknowledge that (Aishwarya and her family) experienced a lack of urgency, a lack of communication and a lack of compassion,” she said. “We know that they were not heard on that night.”

While WA continues to hunt for doctors and nurses from overseas, Mr Cook said the PCH emergency department had been fully rostered on the evening Aishwarya died. “There continues to be discussions around what is the appropriate configuration for staffing … both before and after this incident,” he said.

Suresh Rajan, a spokesman for Aishwarya’s family, said the girl’s parents were “very disappointed” with the content of the report.

“The inquiry was about policies and procedures and the Health Department, not about Aishwarya’s death,” Mr Rajan told Perth radio station 6PR. “We were looking for closure from this … that hasn’t happened.”