WA Premier Mark McGowan refuses to apologise to nurses and doctors who say his claims about the night Aishwarya Aswath, 7, died are ‘completely wrong’.
Medical staff demanded Mr McGowan say sorry for saying there was enough staff on duty when Aishwarya died at Perth Children’s Hospital.
The child died of sepsis in April last year, hours after presenting to the emergency department where she was triaged in the second-least serious category despite having a fever and unusually cold hands.
In May 2021, a month after the tragedy, Mr McGowan said there was not a staff shortage on the night of Aishwarya’s death.
But doctors and nurses said Mr McGowan was wrong, and evidence heard at a coronial inquest this week clearly showed there were not enough staff working that night.
WA Premier Mark McGowan (left), pictured with his wife Sarah, has been asked to apologise for a comment on medical staffing levels at Perth Children’s Hospital on the night a child died
Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath (pictured) died of sepsis hours after she arrived at the Perth Children’s Hospital emergency department with a fever on Easter Saturday 2021
‘The premier repeatedly stated that the PCH ED was fully staffed on the night Aishwarya died – but he and his government knew that those staffing levels were grossly inadequate,’ Australian Nursing Federation secretary Janet Reah told the West Australian.
She said the premier, on behalf of the government, should apologise to Aishwarya’s family, the nurses, and the other ED staff for those statements.
Ms Reah said Mr McGowan gave the impression there were adequate staffing levels last year but ‘the evidence before the coroner’s court tells us this was not the case’.
Aishwarya’s dad Aswath Chavittupara and mum Prasitha Sasidharan said staff were rude and dismissive and showed little urgency to address their concerns.
Their daughter was triaged in the second-least serious category by a nurse who did not take any physical observations when she arrived at the hospital around 5.30pm on Easter Saturday, April 3.
Aishwarya was left in a waiting room for more than 90 minutes, despite her parents pleading with staff to escalate her care as her condition deteriorated.
The inquest was told by the former PCH head Dr Aresh Anwar that staff were exhausted, lacking morale, and worried about patient safety at the time of her death.
He said the health system was struggling with a surge in demand and staff shortages in the months before Aishwarya’s death, with nurses asked to work double shifts.
Staff at Perth Children’s Hospital were exhausted, lacking morale and worried about patient safety at the time of the death of Aishwarya Aswath, 7. Pictured is a stock image of a hospital
Mr McGowan claimed the ED was in fact overstaffed at the time Aishwarya was waiting to be seen.
‘I’m advised ordinarily, on a Saturday there are 12 doctors on duty at 6pm,’ he said in May 2021.
‘On this night in question, there were 13 doctors on this Saturday evening.
‘Because it’s a long weekend, there was additional staff allocated to cover any staff that might be absent or got on leave or whatever it may be.’
But Mr McGowan’s statement was countered this week, with nurses and the doctor telling the inquest they had very difficult workloads that night.
Aishwarya’s parents Aswath Chavittupara (left) and Prasitha Sasidharan (right) attended the inquest into their daughter’s death on Wednesday
Nurse Tahnee Vining said she was doing an ‘impossible job’ on the night Aishwarya died, at times feeling she needed to be in four places at once.
‘I think if I had have been present in the waiting room and been able to finish her (Aishwarya’s) assessment, I would have been able to recognise the deterioration and recognise the severity of her illness,’ she said.
‘If we had more time, if we had more nurses… we were short staffed and there was no one to escalate to.’
Tony Teo, a junior doctor who was working the night Aishwarya died, said the the shift was busier than usual and the workload was made worse by several staff calling in sick.
Aishwarya Aswath (pictured) was pronounced dead less than four hours after she arrived at Perth Children’s Hospital
Mark Duncan-Smith, the head of the WA branch of the Australian Medical Association, also said Mr McGowan should say sorry.
‘In April 2021, the Premier stated that the PCH ED was fully staffed, in fact over compliment and staffing levels were not an issue,’ he said.
‘Clearly staffing shortages were present and the Premier was completely wrong, poorly advised or not.’
Dr Duncan-Smith said though it would be good to hear Mr McGowan apologise for being wrong, whoever gave him such poor advice should be held accountable.
The premier’s office said it would be inappropriate to comment while the coronial inquest was underway, but that his previous responses were made on advice provided by the Health Department that staffing levels were not below roster.
Staff morale at Perth Children’s Hospital was lacking at the time of Aishwarya Aswath’s (pictured) death
The statement added that ‘Hospitals right around the country, are facing workforce pressures in the context of the global shortages and the pandemic.’
Suresh Rajan, a spokesman for Aishwarya’s family, said the inquest had shown that there were systemic failures in the WA Health Department.
‘Our premier has been adamant that it was never a staffing issue… Now the evidence of a number of witnesses shows that statement to be completely untrue,’ he said.
Mr Rajan said the family did not want to see anybody made a scapegoat for Aishwarya’s death – they wanted a better health system people could have confidence in.
Former PCH head Dr Anwar offered his resignation after Aishwarya’s death, believing it was the ‘honourable’ course of action, but was asked to stay on.
He cited personal reasons for having stepped down earlier this month, saying Aishwarya’s death made everyone at the hospital heartbroken.
The former head of Perth Children’s Hospital Dr Aresh Anwar (pictured) told the inquest the hospital was experiencing staff shortages in the months before Aishwarya’s death