Professor Michael Brydon leading review into Canberra's children's health services

Professor Michael Brydon is leading a panel overseeing proposed changes to Canberra's paediatrics care and visited the paediatrics ward and emergency department at Canberra Hospital this week.

The panel is overseeing this work at a time when the quality of paediatric care in Canberra has come under intense scrutiny.

A review into paediatrics at Canberra Health services last year found staff felt there were "unnecessary risks for unwell children" and a former director of paediatrics expressed serious concerns about hospital administration.

There have also been calls for a formal inquiry into children's services following the tragic death of five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora.

Professor Brydon, who is the former chief executive of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network and is leading the panel as an independent expert, said during his visit to the hospital staff had expressed they were happy with the proposed direction but there was much more to be done.

"Things have got a fair way to go before we're all happy," he said.

Professor Brydon said an observation from the visit was there needed to be a greater separation between adult and children's services.

"So some of the areas we saw where there's small waiting areas where adults and kids are together it's not ideal for the adults or the kids," he said.

"In the future as those plans come to play we'll be able to look at ways in which there'll be better streaming of those services to give those kids that are coming through, say, the emergency department or other areas that special care and attention they need when their parents and themselves are needing that support."

Professor Brydon also pointed to work needed to strengthen child health and mental health services.

"We need to make sure that the working relationship between child health and mental health works well. Even though we're not obviously planning the mental health services itself, it's the interaction that is important," he said.

The ACT government is developing a clinical services plan for children and adolescents and the expert panel is providing advice on the plan.

Going forward, Professor Brydon said the views of parents needed to be a focal point.

"It's about the patients, clearly having happy staff is important but the staff are happier when the patients are happier," he said.

"I've worked in kids health care for a long time ... but now after 30 or 40 years, one of the things I've really come to respect is mums and dads out there telling us what we can do better for them, their child and the next kids coming through.

"We really respect their input into our services and I want to see Canberra making sure their voices are heard."

An external review into paediatrics, conducted in 2021 and only released in October, found there was demand for a paediatric intensive unit after finding gaps for critically unwell children aged between 1 and 12.

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This review said there was no suitable facility in Canberra to provide temporary organ support to children to allow them to be stabilised before being transported to Sydney.

The government is planning for a four-bed paediatric intensive care unit in the new critical services building at Canberra Hospital.

Professor Brydon said the panel was given a report about the interaction between Canberra and Sydney children's services, which he described as a "tough read".

He said it was important for Canberra to have a strong partnership with Sydney hospitals as there would not be a sufficient caseload for all services in the nation's capital.

"Clearly we want to make sure the clinicians who are active here in Canberra are working up to their skill set, that's what they've been trained to do and we want to make sure that they can do that," Professor Brydon said.

"It's inappropriate for Canberra to try and do everything for every child, even those hospitals in Sydney that are very complex, I used to be responsible for managing them, they will send children to other parts of the world where it's appropriate.

"Where it can't be supplied locally, you work a partnership model, in this case with Sydney, to make sure those kids get the best care possible."

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