in the anaesthetics and intensive care departments made worse by long hours of high-intensity work, fatigue and burnout.
On November 11, a spokesperson for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network released a public statement saying the operating theatres “are expected to open in early 2023”.But just 10 days earlier, co-heads of the anaesthetics department had told hospital management that this timeline was impossible. The letter says the hospital’s anaesthetists could not keep up with the demand for current services due to “our ongoing staffing crisis”.
A spokesperson for SCHN said the network continued to work towards opening the new operating theatres, that recruitment was ongoing and any child requiring urgent surgery received it without delay. The majority of elective surgeries continue to be performed on time using existing theatres.“SCHN has offered a range of options to the existing anaesthetists at [the Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead] to address their concerns.