❓ Opposition questions the Minister for Health regarding claims that moving the women's and babies' hospital to Murdoch will lead to increased death/disability in newborns, citing expert concerns. Minister refutes the claims, demanding evidence and highlighting current transfer practices.
AnsweredQoN 322Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WOMEN'S AND BABIES' HOSPITAL
322. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
remarks yesterday that it is a ''baseless claim'' and ''frankly
outrageous'' that moving the new women's and babies'
hospital to Murdoch would lead to death and disability in newborns. Former head
of neonatal intensive care units at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women for
two decades, Emeritus Professor Karen Simmer; president of the AMA WA, Dr
Michael Page; chair of the Child and Adolescent Health Service Clinical Staff Association, Dr Elizabeth Croston;
145 senior doctors working at Perth Children's Hospital and within CAHS, who signed a letter to the former director general; directors and
co-directors of Perth Children's Hospital; neonatology heads of department; consultants; clinicians; Helping Little
Hands; Miracle Babies Foundation; and the minister's own Child
and Adolescent Health Service have all claimed that moving the new women's
and babies' hospital to Murdoch will lead to death and disability in
vulnerable newborn babies. Are they wrong, or is the minister?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
322. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
remarks yesterday that it is a ''baseless claim'' and ''frankly
outrageous'' that moving the new women's and babies'
hospital to Murdoch would lead to death and disability in newborns. Former head
of neonatal intensive care units at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women for
two decades, Emeritus Professor Karen Simmer; president of the AMA WA, Dr
Michael Page; chair of the Child and Adolescent Health Service Clinical Staff Association, Dr Elizabeth Croston;
145 senior doctors working at Perth Children's Hospital and within CAHS, who signed a letter to the former director general; directors and
co-directors of Perth Children's Hospital; neonatology heads of department; consultants; clinicians; Helping Little
Hands; Miracle Babies Foundation; and the minister's own Child
and Adolescent Health Service have all claimed that moving the new women's
and babies' hospital to Murdoch will lead to death and disability in
vulnerable newborn babies. Are they wrong, or is the minister?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
AnswerView source ↗
It is not the case that all those
individuals have made that claim; it is the Leader of the Liberal Party who has
made that claim publicly. When you make claims publicly, you need to provide
evidence—particularly when making such, quite frankly, alarmist claims.
You need to provide the evidence. I am calling on you, as the Leader of the
Liberal Party and the person making those claims, to provide that evidence,
because I have not seen that evidence. That
evidence has not been presented to me by any of those people. I have heard the
claims and I hear and understand the concerns, but all those babies who
would be located in a tri-located hospital are being transferred right now, today. So by making those claims, the Leader of
the Liberal Party is saying we are creating death and disability now .
That is what you are saying.
Again, it is a lack of understanding from the Leader of the
Liberal Party. The amount of time that goes into stabilising a neonatal for transfer, whether it is three kilometres or
300 kilometres, is the same. It is the same. I have listened to the
experts and had briefings, and I have gone out and spoken to more than one
group of people. Those paediatricians and neonatologists spend the same amount
of time stabilising a neonatal whether they are going three kilometres, 300 kilometres
or 3 000 kilometres. Sometimes they go from Perth to Melbourne. There is no
evidence to back up those claims, because that is what we do now.
individuals have made that claim; it is the Leader of the Liberal Party who has
made that claim publicly. When you make claims publicly, you need to provide
evidence—particularly when making such, quite frankly, alarmist claims.
You need to provide the evidence. I am calling on you, as the Leader of the
Liberal Party and the person making those claims, to provide that evidence,
because I have not seen that evidence. That
evidence has not been presented to me by any of those people. I have heard the
claims and I hear and understand the concerns, but all those babies who
would be located in a tri-located hospital are being transferred right now, today. So by making those claims, the Leader of
the Liberal Party is saying we are creating death and disability now .
That is what you are saying.
Again, it is a lack of understanding from the Leader of the
Liberal Party. The amount of time that goes into stabilising a neonatal for transfer, whether it is three kilometres or
300 kilometres, is the same. It is the same. I have listened to the
experts and had briefings, and I have gone out and spoken to more than one
group of people. Those paediatricians and neonatologists spend the same amount
of time stabilising a neonatal whether they are going three kilometres, 300 kilometres
or 3 000 kilometres. Sometimes they go from Perth to Melbourne. There is no
evidence to back up those claims, because that is what we do now.
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