Page 2963 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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No conditions were attached to the Labor government’s much-trumpeted election promise to open, staff and operate a paediatric emergency stream. The most important part of Labor’s election announcement came under the subheading, “Why is it important?” In words that I would impress upon our health minster today to read and understand, the policy document said:
ACT Labor recognises that having a sick child can be very distressing for parents, and coming to hospital can be a scary experience for some children. We want to ensure waiting, triage and treatment areas are the best they can be for sick children and their families, and that the process is as quick and easy as possible.
Those words are so important that I am going to read them again. The document said, “We want to ensure waiting, triage and treatment areas are the best they can be for sick children.” Given that a paediatric ED stream offers the best for sick children, why ever would a government decide that that can operate and then not operate, or can be triaging and treating children and then be mothballed?
While the government at the time ruled out a standalone paediatric emergency department because of the ACT’s small size, Ms Gallagher said that a dedicated paediatric wing would improve the quality of the service provided to Canberra families. What government goes to an election promising to invest in a new and important ED service to improve care for Canberra families and then takes that away? It is a government that has completely let down Canberrans when it comes to providing the best health care, quality health care, and a commitment to continuous improvement, as opposed to running down a system that should be the envy of the nation.
On 9 May 2016, more than three and a half years after it was promised by Labor, the government opened its dedicated treatment areas at the Canberra Hospital’s emergency department. A Canberra Times article the following day carried the headline, “Canberra’s kids finally have emergency department as well as six beds, two consultation rooms and a private waiting area”. The newspaper report also revealed that the paediatric wing included a change room, an isolation room and more private treatment spaces. The Canberra Times reported:
Canberra Hospital deputy director-general Dr Ian Thompson said the unit provides a safe haven for children and their families while they are being treated.
“It provides an environment that’s welcoming for children and will hopefully reduce their anxiety in what can be a very worrying time,” Dr Thompson said.
“We’ve got a dedicated waiting area which means children can come straight through here and not have to wait in the main waiting area, so they don’t have to see other patients who are presenting and some of the sick adults who are here.”
Importantly, Dr Thompson also added:
On each shift we will roster people specifically to this area and we will always have staff available to care for the children.
Another article about the paediatric emergency department, from 2015, quoted then Clinical Director of Paediatrics Jeff Fletcher as saying:
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