April 2008 Update
The In The Media page has been updated to reflect most of the coverage over the past few months, though the coverage on radio, 5AA and ABC891 hasn’t been recorded here.
The CEO (Dr Rima Staugas) resigned last month (March), which means that the CEO’s of SA’s three largest hospitals - the Royal Adelaide, Flinders and the WCH have all turned over in the last two months.
We’re getting closer to State budget time, and the challenge is to know whether an renewed media push will nudge the government into committing the funds required for a rebuild of the Good Friday Building, or whether extra exposure will push them into a “You can’t bully me” stance. Advice and opinions are welcome - please email me at GovAdvice@FixTheWCH.org
In December last year Fix the WCH wrote to the new Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, to inform her of the issues at the WCH and her department’s March 27 response is here.
Monday, November 5th Update
Well, no word from Minister Hill regarding my reponse to his letter about some disputed facts on this website.
It’s been a busy month. Please check out the In The Media pages. There are several recent stories, including one about the sad and tragic deaths of two goregous little girl twins who were exposed and subsequently contracted Influenza A just as they were preparing for discharge. Their stay was prolonged, they contracted several other HIA’s (hospital Acquired Infections) and ultimately died. Their mother is one brave women indeed, and a champion advocate for the spirits of her girls, Riley and Violet, and for all of the children of South Australia.
Without a major refurbishment, there are not be enough isolation rooms to contain these potentially deadly contagious diseases. Please write to your local Ministers, and to Minister Hill. Let’s get them to make the committment that they need to make.
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“Factual error” says Minister Hill
Minister Hill has written to us (19th Sept, 2007) here at Fix the WCH stating that we have information “that needs to be clarified to correct a factual error”. I’ll write more later, but I will say that I’m not sure his information is correct, and I will be requesting that Minister Hill provide information to support his claim. I also note that nothing else from the website was mentioned as being incorrect.
I’m also not sure I want to pursue this debate, as it doesn’t seem like proving his information wrong will help get the hospital the funds it so desperately needs. I’ll keep you all informed.
Premier “unable” to meet with Fix the WCH
Ronni and I got a letter from the Premier’s office this week. It spun the usual stuff (take a look here). There was the usual not enough money in the pot -
“the government has recently committed substantial funding for hospital upgrades and regrettably it is not possible to fund every project at the same time”…
and.. “we’ve already told the hospital to use their existing minor works budget and money donated by charities” -
“has committed additional funding to the hospital”
They do mention that the dept is assessing the infractructure needs of the WCH for future budget planning, so I guess the “Case for Change” was not urgent enough.
There are some urgent, important needs at the WCH, and if it takes this web site to expose what the government either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know, then so be it. Stay tuned.
Did you know?
UPDATE Sept 1 - apparently (yet to be confirmed) the rapid (less than one hour) Flu test is NOT run on weekends, so staffers have to wait 24 hours for the test results on weekends. I have heard however, that it is a moot point, though, as there are not enough isolation rooms to contain the outbreak anyway. I would have thought it was useful anyway - so that patients could be grouped into say, RSV cases in one bay, with Influenza A cases in a different bay… clarification anyone?
In July two children were admitted with respiratory issues to an *open* bay (at least four beds) of the fourth floor medical ward at the WCH on a Friday night. The isolation rooms were full. Because it was a weekend, neither child was tested for influenza A, and *both* were positive for this dangerous virus when tested three days later, on the Monday. I believe that since this incident testing now occurs through the weekends, but can’t help but think of the children, staff, families and visitors who were needlessly exposed to a potentially fatal virus because the WCH does not have enough isolation rooms. These children and their families shared a bathroom, and a ward with other patients, their families and visitors for three days. Unacceptable.
Do you have a “Did You Know?” that I can feature? Email me.
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Petition Response from Minister Hill
Well, dear taxpayers, our government just spent a few thousand bucks (my guess) sending out a response on August 17th to everyone who signed the petition. In case your signature was too illegible to get on their mailing list, here’s a copy for you to read and maybe seethe over like I did. I’m not in town at the moment, but got an email from my Mum, telling me a friend of hers had received a letter in response to the petition. When Mum asked what it said, her friend said, oh, you know, “blah, blah, blah”. She couldn’t have been more accurate, although, when I think about it, I reckon the letter is a little more sinister than that, because it’s pretty misleading, really…
Below are my responses to several comments in the letter. Did you get the letter, too? Let us know what you think here, or email me directly, and I’ll put a few choice responses here on the front page.
The Minister says: “In relation to WCH, the Government has committed $156,000 specifically for the fourth floor medical wards refurbishment and this work has already begun.”
The truth: This $156,000 is coming out of the Woolworths Fresh Future campaign donations. (ed note: Sept. 24th: This information is being debated by the Minister, so I will update when I have supporting information)
The Truth: It has been eight months since the Minister wrote to me telling me that the new curtains were hung, among other improvements. There are still no new curtains, and the bathrooms are just as disgusting as ever. The Nurses’ desks are currently being improved, but these funds were from yet another donation - not the hospital minor works budget. (I did email a hospital executive to find out of any other improvements have started, but I haven’t received an answer yet)
The Minister says: “To meet health care needs for all South Australians into the future, the State government has committed $2.2 billion between now and 2016 for capital works.”
The truth: Not once cent is allocated for Capital works at the WCH. I guess our children are not considered part of “all South Australians”.
The Minister says: “I trust that the information above alleviates your concerns.”
The Truth: Not even close Minister, not even close…
We have another 300 or so signatures to send to Minister Hill, but I’m loathe for him to waste more money replying. Any suggestions as to what we should write is our cover letter this time?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Minister Hill Doesn’t much like us, I don’t think…
Sam Paior and Ronni Wood attended a meeting with Minister Hill on July 19th.
“I arranged the meeting a few weeks ago so that we could present Minister Hill with the petitions – we have more than 700 signatures” said Ms Ronni Wood.”Another ten pages have come in since then, too” she said.
“I asked Minister Hill to commit to the funding to fix up the hospital, but he just wouldn’t, or couldn’t, so I said I guess I needed to make an appointment with Mr Foley and Premier Rann. He got up and walked out of the meeting in a bit of huff” said Ms Paior.
“Ronni and I were pretty surprised. We looked at each other in a bit of shock. We were like “Did he just walk out of our meeting?”
He did come back as we left and shook our hands, maybe he just needed to count to ten or something, but it was weird” she said.
“We interrupted him at least half a dozen times during the course of the meeting to ask when he would be able to make the commitment to redevelop the 4thFloor medical ward and the rotten lifts and airconditioning and fix the fire safety issues and the rest of the big issues. He kept saying it was a priority, but I’m really not sure what that is supposed to mean anymore.
“He talked about his budget being the biggest ever, but that the costs of healthcare were ever increasing. I can’t remember exactly how I put it but I said something like the work at the WCH “depends on how well you can advocate for your portfolio”. He wasn’t happy about that and said he was insulted by my comment. He was pretty upset. I didn’t mean to insult him, but I figure if you’re really passionate about something, you go in to bat for it.
“He talked, a lot, about our aging community and the aged infrastructure of the RAH. He said that consolidating the services into the new Marj would save a bunch of money, but I don’t buy it, because if that were true then the same argument would have to apply to the aging, crumbling WCH. It just doesn’t make sense to me” said Ms Paior.
“The Minister just wouldn’t commit to the funding. He said the WCH was a top priority, but I’ve got a letter he wrote to me in 2005 saying he was aware of the issues at the WCH but fixing them depended on future State Budgets. We’ve had two budgets since then, so what does “top priority” mean?” said Ronni.
“He talked about the big Health Care Plan and the millions of dollars that the Marj will save, but that won’t be built for at least 10 years – are they really going to let the WCH crumble for another 10 years?” said Ronni Wood. “These are our kids we’re talking about – why can’t they commit the money? I just don’t understand.”
The WCH has some of the oldest wards in Australia - check out the Sunday Mail for more info.
If old just meant a little daggy, we could live with that, and we have the wonderful support of the McGuinness McDermott Foundation to work on that stuff, but developments in the last 20 years in infection control and health have meant that these wards pose now unacceptable risks for our children. A severe lack of isolation rooms and an untenable setup of bays means that nursing and medical staff are compromised in how they serve our children. Our kids deserve better, and our government needs to pitch in and provide at the very least basic infrastructure. Help keep the pressure up. Keep checking in for latest developments. We will have an important announcement in the next week.
Minister Hill - please take responsibilty and advocate for your portfolio. Our kids need you.
Also, if you’re curious about what the “Case for Change” report featured in the media the past two weeks really says, then follow this Sunday Mail link to read it for yourself.
Sincere thanks to the McGuinness McDermott Foundation who have pledged $800,000 to the dilapidated wards of the WCH, and to IKEAwho will be helping brighten things up too. Thanks too to Elissa Doherty and the Sunday Mail for their research work in uncovering the true state of affairs.
Three cheers to the senior staffer who was brave enough to speak out. Let me know who you are and I’ll buy you a beer. Same for Dr David Thomas and Dr Chris Pearson.
Kudos too to Minister Hill for making a good start by visiting the unit and committing to $156K in repairs out of the hospital’s existing budget… (that really isn’t worth a beer). Don’t stop Minister Hill - the building is crumbling and needs you to fix it up! Now we know you know how bad it is. I’m sad it has taken so long, but look forward to the government making a real investment in our kids and healthcare staff (then I’ll buy you a bottle of Grange….)
Click here to tell a friend about www.FixTheWCH.com
Download our petition here - we are presenting it to Minister Hill in Thursday July 19, so please get some signatures and mail to the address on the bottom of the petition ASAP. Many thanks for your support.
Keep up the momentum - hand on the website details to other families affected by the disgrace that is the 4th Floor Medical Unit, and Newland and Adolescent wards. Post your comments and contact us if you have any info you think might interest the media and get some real action from the government NOW!
The 4th Floor Medical Unit of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide serves around 3000 children each year, with concerns varying from asthma, to cystic fibrosis, to immune system and gastrointestinal, endocrine and neurological and other concerns. Almost all infectious disease admissions in the hospital are made to this unit of 61 beds.The unit has not been updated in a quarter of a century. Its paint is peeling, walls are coming apart, there are holes in the walls and the bathrooms are degraded so much that they appear to be uncleanable to current health standards.
No money has been allocated to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in the recent (June 2007) State Budget, so the unit looks set to languish and literally fall apart.
This site has been established so that South Australians can share their experiences of the facilities of the 4th Floor Medical Unit and with our health service and government. Please click on Your Comments to add your concerns about the state of the facilities at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. The more comments we get (and you are welcome to comment anonymously) the stronger our case to the Minister.
Please also visit the links listed on the right and send your comments directly to the hospital and Health Commission.
If you have more photos or information that will add to our cause, please email them to us. We will honour every request for confidentiality. Thanks in advance for your support.
–Sam, Ronni and the parents of sick kids across South Australia.
Tape holding a wall together beneath a window.
Peeling walls.
A generally dismal looking place.
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