Canberra Liberal MLA Leanne Castley, Shadow Minister for Health, has called on Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith to urgently review emergency paediatric care for seriously ill children, following the broadcast on Monday night of A Current Affair (Nine) investigation into the Canberra Hospital.
In the program, Professor Walter Abhayaratna, ACT president of the Australian Medical Association, stated that paediatric emergency care at Canberra Hospital had been inadequate for a decade, and that the early warning system was not fit for purpose to identify patients in a timely fashion, or identify extremely unwell children early enough.
Two children – 13-year-old Brian Lovelock and five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora – died earlier this year, Nine reported.
Brian, ill with COVID, and underweight from an eating disorder, suffered a cardiac arrest at Canberra Hospital in August. His heart stopped for 45 minutes, until revived by CPR. His mother sat by her son’s bed for 12 hours before he was transported to Sydney for treatment, where he died days later in a children’s hospital.
Rozalia died of myocarditis at the hospital’s emergency department in July; her mother felt staff ignored her concerns, instead telling her to take Rozalia home.
Two more children died of treatable bacterial infections in the last two years, Nine reported.
“These harrowing stories send a chill down the spine of every parent,” Ms Castley said.
Professor Abhayaratna believes that more frequent monitoring of patients could be introduced immediately. Better access to paediatric specialists would also help.
Ms Castley said that for the sake of every concerned parent or carer across the ACT, the Health Minister must act now.
“If the president of the ACT AMA is saying the system currently in place at the Canberra Hospital does not identify extremely unwell children early enough, especially compared to other states like NSW and Victoria, then this is something that needs to be addressed immediately.”
A spokesperson said Canberra Health Services used the Paediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) charts as its warning system for children, and the Modified Early Warning Scores (MEWS) for adults.
The current warning system was externally confirmed by recent accreditation by the Australian Council on Health Care Standards (ACHS), the spokesperson stated. The team of independent assessors found CHS meets all National Standards, including Standard 8, which focuses on Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration.
“Achievement of Standard 8 confirms that our health service has set up and maintained systems for recognising and responding to acute deterioration.
“We continually review our systems as part of our continuous quality improvement approach.”
Over the last year, Canberra Health Services has reviewed the PEWS system to consider its application and effectiveness for identifying and responding to a deteriorating child, particularly in the context of implementing the Digital Health Record, which will go live in November. The review includes input from clinicians, a review of the national and international literature, and alternative early warning systems.
The expanded Canberra Hospital will have four paediatric intensive care beds – in three years, Nine reported.
“While the Labor-Greens government continues to spruik the delayed Canberra Hospital expansion that will have four paediatric ICU beds, this is still three years away,” Ms Castley said.
“What is [the Health Minister] doing today to improve things following these deaths?
“The Canberra Liberals want to know what will be done now to support children’s health at the Canberra Hospital.”
