CHILD AND ADOLESCENT
HEALTH SERVICE — AISHWARYA ASWATH
119. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the reported refusal of
the executive of the Child and Adolescent Health Service to endorse the SAC
1 clinical incident investigation report into Aishwarya Aswath until an
independent investigation is completed. How can junior staff be referred to the
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency on the basis of a report that
the executive considers incomplete, and how is this due process for the staff
on the front line?
Mr R.H. COOK replied:
I thank the member for the question.
Can I just counsel you, member: this is an issue about a little girl's
death in a very tragic set of circumstances.
From that point of view, it really does require a level of maturity in terms of
how we approach this from a public
point of view. We want to get the answers and we want to make sure that we
provide some comfort to that family and that we continue to support the
staff in that process.
As
many people have observed, there are, I guess, some questions that have been
raised in relation to the root-cause analysis between the findings and
the recommendations. I will leave that for the experts to judge and to draw
conclusions, which Dr Anwar is doing. The root-cause analysis is an entirely
separate piece from the obligations of the executive under the national health
services act. That requires the executive, or in this case what is referred to
as a ''responsible authority'', to undertake certain actions
under that act and, as a result, the executive has done just that. It has taken
a course of action that has —
Dr D.J. Honey: It has never
happened before.
Mr R.H. COOK: On many
occasions, member. It is called a notification. It is not reporting, it is not
apportioning blame and it is not a finding of judgement. It is simply saying
that there is an issue, and under the act the responsible authority has an
obligation to provide a notification. It is as simple as that, but I stress —
Dr D.J. Honey: It never
happened before a coronial investigation.
Mr R.H. COOK: Again, I just
want to counsel everyone. This involves important issues. It is an issue with
respect to a little girl's death, and we want to continue to get
answers, but we need to actually do that in a respectful and dignified way.
It also involves, obviously, the
death of a little girl in a clinical setting, which puts extreme pressure and
focus on that. We have to let the experts
undertake their obligations and responsibilities under a whole range of acts,
and that is what the responsible authority—in this case, the
chief executive of the Child and Adolescent Health Service—is required
to do; that is, to notify AHPRA in this context of an incident. It is not—I
stress—it is not a question of blame and it is not a question of
judgement. That is not for us to do. That is the responsibility of the experts.
We should stop trying to put a political lens over this, and allow the process
to take its course.
The SPEAKER: Are there any
petitions?
Dr D.J. Honey: I have a supplementary
question.
The
SPEAKER: Sorry, that was the last
question, and I think you have a matter of public interest on the same topic,
so I am calling for petitions. No petitions? Papers for tabling.