Major inquiry launched into Northern Beaches Hospital following child's death

A parliamentary inquiry into the Northern Beaches Hospital’s services will be launched following the tragic death of two-year-old Joe Massa.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park announced on Friday that he has asked parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to investigate the safety and quality of care provided by the hospital.

The inquiry will examine services dating back to the hospital’s opening in October 2018 on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Joe Massa suffered a cardiac arrest at the hospital and died in September last year. His parents, Elouise and Danny Massa, claim Joe was incorrectly triaged and left waiting for hours, leading to brain damage.

The grieving parents have urged the state government to review the hospital’s systems and protocols and take immediate action to upgrade its facilities.

“We want change at that hospital so no other parent, no one of our family or friends, has to go through what we’ve gone through,” they said.

The couple met with Minister Park, Premier Chris Minns, and NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce in February, when the parliamentary inquiry was discussed. On Friday, Park confirmed the inquiry would investigate accessibility issues that contributed to Joe’s death.

“We made a commitment to Elouise and Danny to undertake the necessary reviews to understand how they and their son have been let down, as well as to learn what changes need to be made to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again,” Park stated.

The inquiry will scrutinise past incidents at the hospital, including those subject to serious adverse event reviews (SAERs), assess the hospital’s responses, and determine whether necessary improvements were implemented. Additionally, it will examine patient and carer escalation systems, particularly the REACH (Recognise, Engage, Act, Call, Help) protocol, which was found to be insufficiently accessible in Joe Massa’s case.

The inquiry will also evaluate the hospital’s measures to prevent adverse events, as well as staff standards and capabilities. Park noted that a previous parliamentary inquiry in 2019 examined the hospital’s operations and management. The upcoming inquiry will specifically focus on patient safety and care quality while considering whether past recommendations have been acted upon.

Public Accounts Committee chair Jason Yat-Sen Li expressed his commitment to ensuring a thorough investigation. “I understand the strong community interest in this matter, and I am confident the committee is well placed to undertake this important inquiry,” he said. “I am determined to get this inquiry underway as quickly as possible, but I also want to get it right. We will announce the opening of submissions as well as hearing dates in due course.”

The NSW Health Services Union (HSU), which has raised concerns about the hospital’s operations since its opening in 2018, said the investigation is long overdue. “We have consistently seen evidence that Northern Beaches Hospital prioritises commercial interests over patient care,” said HSU secretary Gerard Hayes.

“From renting out maternity wards to film crews while mothers struggle with understaffed services, to charging grieving families unnecessary fees to release their loved ones’ bodies – these practices reveal a disturbing pattern.

“We hope this inquiry will finally address the systemic issues our members have been reporting for years and put patients before profits at Northern Beaches Hospital.”