In July,Health Minister Brad Hazzard met with doctors and healthcare workers from across the state after an independent review found governance problems and escalating tensions between the Randwick and Westmead hospitals should be settled"as a matter of urgency".
NSW Health delayed making a final decision on the future of the network until academic Emeritus Professor Richard Henryhanded down the findings of his statewide review of paediatric services.
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While Professor Henry did not make an explicit recommendation on whether paediatric cardiac surgery and cardiology should continue at the two hospitals,Mr Hazzard said NSW Health had decided following the review that these services should continue to be provided at both sites.
The decision will likely come as a blow to cardiologists at Westmead,who believed patients would have better outcomes if cardiac services were focused at one hospital. However,doctors at Randwick were of the view that losing cardiac surgery from the hospital would compromise other services.
Professor Henry's review,released on Friday,said the suggestion that Westmead hospital become the sole children’s hospital providing specialised paediatric health services"seemed neither logical nor feasible",given"large commitments for capital developments have been committed to both the Westmead and Randwick sites".
"Furthermore,the reviewer was told by people inside and outside the network that Westmead hospital was'bursting at the seams'and was struggling to cope with its current workload,so the notion of down-skilling services provided at[Randwick] did not seem to be in the best interests of children and young people."