WA doctors demand Amber-Jade Sanderson reveal plans for birthing suite amid maternity hospital location row

Doctors are demanding the Health Minister come clean before the State election about whether she will build a specialised birthing suite for high-risk babies at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre in Nedlands. Nearly one year after The Sunday Times revealed Amber-Jade Sanderson was considering the suite amid concerns from doctors a planned maternity hospital at Murdoch was too far from Perth Children’s Hospital, she has refused to commit to the proposal. “We have had many discussions with the Department of Health and the minister about the requirement to mitigate the risks with the distance between the site of the new hospital (Murdoch) and Perth Children’s Hospital,” AMA WA president Michael Page said. “We wouldn’t like to see the minister walking away from the idea of having a satellite facility or a maternity facility of some sort on or very close to the QEII campus before it is properly investigated, or before we can be completely confident that the risks have been mitigated in some other way.” The site for a new maternity hospital has become an election issue, with Labor reversing an earlier decision to build the facility at QEII, instead planning to construct it at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch. The Government’s proposed site for the $1.8 billion maternity hospital is some 20km from PCH — which has specialised expertise to operate on newborn babies with serious health problems, such as heart defects. Liberal leader Libby Mettam has pledged that should she become Premier, it will be built at QEII, which is home to both PCH and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Doctors also want the maternity hospital built there. But they argue that if the Government goes ahead with its plan for Murdoch, it should at least provide special birthing suites at QEII for mothers known to be carrying babies with serious health issues. “The facility would be for a baby that was diagnosed in the womb as having a problem that would require immediate surgery after it’s born,” Dr Page said. “Ideally, they would be born as close as possible to where paediatric surgery is performed, and paediatric surgery can’t be performed at the women’s and babies’ hospital.” Last November, Ms Sanderson left the door open for a satellite maternity facility at either PCH or Sir Charles Gairdner. “We are open to considering all reasonable and sensible solutions to address the challenges ahead,” she said. And asked recently by The Sunday Times if the QEII idea was still an option, Ms Sanderson said: “We are continuing to consult with clinicians and parents about whether a satellite birthing facility at QEII would be required and what that would look like.” Dr Page said it now appeared almost certain the maternity hospital would be built at Murdoch. “The likelihood of the decision to build at Murdoch being reversed is extremely low, and so our advocacy is really around the risks being mitigated as best as they can,” he said. “This (satellite birthing facility) should be decided before the election so that people voting can understand what the Government plan is.” Ms Mettam said on Saturday the satellite birthing facility was a “thought bubble”. “A satellite facility ... would be totally inadequate, and would risk the lives of newborn babies,” Ms Mettam said. “It is abundantly clear any women’s and babies’ hospital at Murdoch, rather than at QEII, will not be fit for purpose and will not be the world-class facility that Western Australian women and children deserve.”