PERTH CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL — AISHWARYA
ASWATH — INDEPENDENT INQUIRY REPORT
732. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. So that I am clear, is the Premier refuting that
the staffing was suboptimal, a conclusion that was made in the report
that he is referring to?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
I will be clear to the Leader of
the Opposition again: Professor White, who conducted the review, was
interviewed yesterday —
Ms M.J. Davies interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN: The Leader of
the Opposition is interrupting. Does she want to hear my answer? Yesterday she
was laughing and interrupting whilst I was talking about the very sad facts
around the death of Aishwarya. It would just be polite, I think, to allow me to
speak about this. Professor White examined the matters in question. What he said yesterday when he was being interviewed
about these matters is that on the night in question, the hospital was not understaffed. When Aishwarya arrived at
the hospital, there were 41 patients, 19 doctors and, from memory, 15 nurses.
It was not understaffed on the night in question. Sepsis is a very difficult
illness to diagnose. All the medical
professionals I have spoken to have advised me of that. It is particularly
dangerous for children. It has a very, very high death rate. It is one
of those illnesses that kills a lot of Australians each and every year,
including in hospitals. It is one of those very, very sad situations.
The report itself obviously
indicated that we need to change the configuration inside the emergency
department, which is action that is going on now, because the seating
arrangements and other nooks and crannies do not allow for a proper line of
sight, and I think the report was definitely referring to that when it used
some of its commentary. The second point is
that it was referring to the fact that the staff in the hospital, more broadly
speaking, were tired. It has been a difficult and long period and we
have had trouble recruiting from overseas. That is a fact that we accept; that
is why we have boosted the staff numbers in the hospital enormously over the
course of the last six months, and that will continue. On the night in
question, as Professor White said, the hospital was not understaffed.