A hospital chief has been suspended over the catastrophic gas mix-up at Bankstown
Health Minister Jillian Skinner has again apologised to the families of two babies involved in a fatal oxygen mix-up at a western Sydney hospital.
The apology comes on the eve of the public release of the NSW's chief health officer's final report.
A baby boy died and a newborn girl suffered suspected brain damage after they were mistakenly given nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas", instead of oxygen at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in June and July this year.
"I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering caused to the families of the two babies," Ms Skinner said in a statement on Friday.
"Today the parents of the two babies received the final reports."
"I have today received the final report prepared by NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant."
"Dr Chant will tomorrow publicly release that report, having allowed the families time to consider it."
A statement from Ms Skinner said: "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering caused to the families of the two babies. " Source: 7News
According to a statement released by NSW Health on Friday, the general manager of the hospital has been suspended following investigations.
"As a result of investigations to date, as summarised in the report, the general manager of the Hospital at the time the error occurred has been suspended," a statement from Secretary NSW Health, Ms Elizabeth Koff said.
A hospital chief has been suspended over a catastrophic gas mix-up. Source: 7News
It is the second suspension announced since the hospital's medical gas mix-up, after an engineer at the hospital was suspended earlier this month.
Ms Skinner added she fully supports the suspension of the general manager, who worked at the time the medical gas pipelines were incorrectly installed in the hospital in 2015.
South Western Sydney Local Health District Chief Executive Amanda Larkin also released a statement, saying Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital and the Local Health District cooperated fully with the investigation.
"I’d like to reassure the community that we have comprehensively tested all medical gas outlets across the District to ensure patient safety."
"We have also reviewed and enhanced our protocols for ensuring medical gas outlets are correctly installed and verified in compliance with the Australian Standard."
"We are committed to implementing all the recommendations made in the reports," Ms Larkin said.
The final report from NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant is due to be publicly released tomorrow. Source: 7News
The final report from NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant is due to be publicly released on Saturday, having allowed the families time to read through its contents.
