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Waiting game: Children waiting for heart operations are (bac, left to right) Chrysoula Petras, 8, Kevin Innes, 8, Makayla Tyrrell, 8 months, Brodie Guy, 22 months, and (front) Julian Michielin, 10 months, and Lincoln Brunton, 8 months.
今天的《Herald Sun》头版头条。
400 children forced to wait for heart surgery
August 26, 2008 12:00am Article from: Herald Sun
THESE are the children crying out for heart surgery after being left in limbo because Victoria does not have enough intensive care services.
Each week, six Australian children are born with heart problems requiring operations to save them or give them a chance to actively take part in life.
More than 400 children are on waiting lists for cardiac surgery in Victoria, with one angry mum saying "it's just not good enough".
Between them, (clockwise from top left) Chrysoula Petras, Kevin Innes, Makayla Tyrrell (on his lap), Brodie Guy, Lincoln Catlin and Julian Michielin have had 19 operations cancelled since June.
Up to 60 operations were cancelled at the Royal Children's Hospital last month because there is nowhere for them to recover.
The hospital has some of the world's best heart surgeons ready and waiting to treat the young patients.
But the lack of intensive-care beds means the operations cannot proceed, prompting families to demand the State Government immediately fund 10 additional beds and recruit and train enough nurses to operate them.
After turning blue and being rushed to hospital on Sunday night, eight-month-old Lincoln was upgraded and booked for a major operation this morning.
With surgery already cancelled six times this month, his mother Penny Brunton was not surprised when the hospital called last night to tell her it was off again.
"We have the best surgeons you can get and they just can't do what they are supposed to be doing," she said.
Last Friday, all cardiac surgery was called off.
Last month, a 10-day-old boy with breathing problems became the first child in 14 years to be sent interstate because all of the state's pediatric intensive care beds were full.
The Royal Children's Hospital has 17 intensive care beds that must be supervised 24 hours a day by specially trained nurses.
But emergency cases have forced scheduled operations to be cancelled, especially on cardiac patients, who account for 45 per cent of intensive care occupants.
The hospital's chief of surgery Dr Leo Donnan said the problem was finding intensive care nurses to staff beds.
"Urgent and emergency cases are having to take precedence on our elective," he said.
"We are trying to milk every ounce out of this system at the moment to ensure there is no one left behind and there is no child at risk."
The number of complex heart patients being sent to the Royal Children's from interstate has increased 80 per cent since 2001.
The Australian Medical Association believes Victoria needs another seven pediatric intensive care beds – costing $1 million a year each – and wants another eight neonatal intensive care beds, costing $1.5 million a year.
HeartKids Victoria president Scott Reinke said 10 ICU beds needed to be reserved for cardiac patients.
"It is not about waiting for the new hospital. It is past critical point now," he said.
"We need at least 10 more ICU beds immediately, with trained nurses."
In a June email leaked to Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey, the Department of Human Services asked Victorian hospitals to treat children in adult intensive care beds, ignoring established policies.
"Following discussions with the Royal Children's Hospital and Monash Medical Centre, we have been asked to convey to CEOs the significant pressure that PICU services are experiencing," the memo states.
"As such, your health service may be asked to care for a patient under 16 years of age in your adult intensive care unit."
Health Minister Daniel Andrews' spokesman, Jason Frenkel, said the RCH's intensive care unit treated 1400 children a year, with one in five coming from interstate.
"With an international shortage of pediatric ICU nurses, there are sometimes limits on the number of ICU beds that can be safely opened," he said.
"However, the Brumby Government has significantly increased the state's neonatal and pediatric ICU capacity from 52 beds in 2000 to 72 beds in 2008.
"We are building a brand new $1 billion state-of-the-art children's hospital with the capacity to treat an extra 35,000 patients every year.
"There will be an extra 21 ICU beds at the new Royal Children's Hospital." |
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摄版宠版联合活动 - 我家貓 (2014-10-6) silvia 
发表于 2008-8-26 01:22
发表于 2008-8-26 10:51
