Independent Inquiry into PCH

November 9, 2021

Today the Independent Inquiry into Perth Children’s Hospital was released. The report has been made available to read below, including the statement in response from CAHS.

Below are statements from our Board Chair and Chief Executive.

Dr Rosanna Capolingua, Child and Adolescent Health Service Board Chair

"Firstly and most importantly, on behalf of the Child and Adolescent Health Service, I would like to express our deepest sympathy to Aishwarya Aswath’s family. It is difficult to begin to understand the loss that the family feels.

“We welcome the report from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, commissioned by the Director General of Health Dr David Russell-Weisz, which has investigated the circumstances leading to the tragic death of Aishwarya Aswath at Perth Children’s Hospital on 3 April 2021.

“The Child and Adolescent Health Service commits, without qualification, to ensuring every recommendation in this report is fully embedded in our organisation and that the changes have a genuine impact on children’s healthcare.

“The report emphasises and reminds us that our approach to clinical governance, risk, adverse incidents and the culture of consumer service is crucial in determining the experience and outcome of every patient.

“I’d like to thank each member of the inquiry team for their work and commend them on the robustness of the inquiry process.

“Let me assure all of the families and carers of children and young people who use our services that we all come to work every day to provide the highest standard of care.

“We have a hard working and committed team of professionals employed across our services.

“We will implement every recommendation from the Inquiry report as a priority and hold ourselves accountable for what must be done”.

Dr Aresh Anwar, Child and Adolescent Health Service Chief Executive

"I would like to express my deepest sympathies to Aishwarya’s family. We are deeply sorry for their loss. The family’s ongoing pain and suffering has been and will continue to be at the forefront of our mind as we navigate through this process.

“The Child and Adolescent Health Service is committed to honouring the family’s request to ensure their experience will not be endured by others in the future. We will honour the legacy of Aishwarya by working to deliver an improved healthcare system for all children in Western Australia.

“We fully accept our responsibility to learn from the findings from the Inquiry.

“Following Aishwarya’s tragic death, our own internal investigation recommended a number of actions. We have made significant progress in implementing these, however in order to ensure they produce lasting change, we will need to continue to monitor and review them. We will now also focus on the inquiry findings and implementing the recommendations as a priority.

“Our commitment to continuous improvement does not end with this report. We will continue to listen to and act on feedback from children, young people, parents and carers.

“We are fully committed to making sure every recommendation is embedded and that change is brought about with lasting impact to ensure that every family can be confident that they will always receive the very best of care."

Independent Inquiry Report and response

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