A Busselton mother has warned other parents to be aware if their children fall ill, they may be treated at Bunbury Regional Hospital instead of locally.
Brooke Woods took her 19-month-old son Christopher to the Busselton Health Campus emergency department on Thursday at 4.30pm after he began wheezing.
“I took Chris to hospital as he was having trouble breathing,” she said.
“While we were in the emergency, one of the doctors said they did not have the right insurance to admit him and I would need to take him to Bunbury – which I did.
“I just don’t understand why our local hospital doesn’t take sick children and treat them.”
WA Country Health Service South West regional director Kerry Winsor said the matter would be investigated.
“The Busselton Hospital Emergency Department treats patients of all ages and children are admitted to the hospital wards when it is appropriate,” she said.
“In some cases, if required, the patient will be transferred to another hospital where they are able to receive specialist care.
“In this case, the patient was treated in Busselton before being referred to Bunbury Regional Hospital which has a fully staffed paediatric ward with specialist medical support and is the most appropriate clinical setting for a young child.”
Mrs Winsor said WACHS has indemnity insurance for its doctors providing care to public patients and will investigate the advice given by staff in relation to this matter.
This issue comes after the Mail revealed late last year WA Country Health Services were satisfied for patients to be transferred from Busselton to Bunbury for emergency surgery.
At the time, WA Country Health Service South West operations manager Rory Stemp said patients from Busselton travel to Bunbury when that is the best location for their procedure.
“All emergency surgical cases are transferred from Busselton to Bunbury where they have access to a wide range of on-call surgical specialists,” he said.
“When patients travel it is generally due to the complexity of the care required and the additional support that can be given at the regional hospital which has facilities such as an intensive care unit.”
Mr Stemp said Busselton has never had a salaried resident surgeon.
Twenty-eight visiting specialist surgeons operated at Busselton Hospital in 2015 performing an average of 65 procedures a week.
Premier Colin Barnett officially opened the Busselton Health Campus in March 2015 after a $131 million upgrade to provide more beds, emergency department treatment facilities, increased surgical capacity and an expanded dental clinic.
At the time, the new campus included 84 beds, 15 emergency department spaces, two operating theatres and a six-chair dental clinic.
At the opening Premier Barnett said he was delighted many years of hard work had produced a magnificent hospital.
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