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Now the CAHS executive and board have a dilemma, the resolution of which will be keenly watched by all involved, including their political masters. For them, it is a no-win situation. If they kill the report now, or the report becomes watered down, it will be clear that the process has become completely politicised, causing yet more damage to the relationship of clinicians with the Government, who need clinicians on side if they want the hospital relocation to work.   

If they receive the report in its current form and fail to endorse it, they will destroy their own relationship with CAHS clinicians. If they endorse the report in its current form (or something close to it after final revisions), they might of course jeopardise their own relationships with the Government. But this is what they must do. The future of healthcare in Western Australia is too important for anything else to occur.   

The position of the AMA (WA), informed by wide consultation with clinicians and Clinical Staff Associations (CSAs), has been very clear: irrespective of location, tri-location is the international best practice, the status quo in every other State and Territory of Australia, and anything less will not be a “world-class” service. Indeed, 93 per cent of surveyed senior doctors at CAHS support tri-location irrespective of where. In other words, if Perth Children’s Hospital ultimately had to be moved to Murdoch, they would support this. As also reported in the media this week, at least 145 consultants at PCH have signed letters supporting tri-location, as have at least 50 consultants at the smaller King Edward Memorial Hospital.  

There was significant media attention to the AMA (WA)’s position on Wednesday, and I made that position abundantly clear when I spoke to 6PR’s Gary Adshead.  

“This is not a minority report, Gary. These are the considered views of clinicians who work in the State’s only tertiary/quaternary, top-level service for sick children. They’ve made their views extremely clear. And it has in fact been endorsed by a number of officially constituted groups within CAHS, even if not by its executive or board yet. So, for CAHS to then not endorse this report is what were to unfold, that would absolutely destroy the relationship between clinicians and management, a relationship that is already difficult… since that announcement put the entire medical community offside six months ago. So look, it is extraordinary, Gary and and I hope that the report, even if in its draft form, can see the light of day, because I think the public deserves to know the views of the clinicians who work with these very sick children.” 

 I would like to pay special tribute to all who signed these letters and who have otherwise spoken out publicly. Be assured that the CSA representatives whose names appear on the front page of the letters have our full, unwavering support, as do all other clinicians who added their signatures of support. The names and signatures of the latter group will of course remain protected. 

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